CONTEXT
Most NT Scholars acknowledge 1 Thessalonians was written by Paul and dated around A.D. 50. The recipients were new converted Christians in Thessalonica where Paul newly built the infant church on the second missionary trip. To understand the reason why Paul wrote the letter, we need to explore into the situation of Thessalonians’ church has dealt with.
Acts 17 describes the church of Thessalonica was being non-stop attacked since it was set up. The attacks reflected in Paul wrote some “bad word” against the oppressors (1 Thess 2:14b) and reminded the Thessalonians he had warned them in before (3:4). The oppositions and attacks became so severely that Paul and his companions had to leave Thessalonica suddenly. They were continually chased in Beroea until they furthered to Athens. Since Paul has not spent much time in this infant church, he was so worry about the newly converters faith. Paul tried to go back to Thessalonica but he was blocked. (2:17-18). Then, he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to pasture them. Timothy finally brought back good news by reporting the church was standing firmly in faith (3:6), but might need “more teaching in certain area and of encouragement in trials.” Paul obviously could not go back at that time and in this context he wrote the letters of 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
The 1 Thessalonians consists two halves: the first half (1:6-3:13) concerns Paul's original visit to Thessalonica and the converters responses to the Gospel. The second half (4:1-5:22) is Paul's teaching on the Thessalonian believers about the issues of conduct and beliefs. In Chapter 4, Paul begins with “Finally, brother” (v.1) obviously indicating he is turning to a new set of topics to advise. After making advice on mai...
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...Thess 4:13-18 expressed how Paul interprets the relation of Jesus’ resurrection and the Parousia. Since 1 Cor 15 Paul has also discussed the issue of Jesus’ resurrection, this passage, written early than 1 Corinthians, provides good cross reference for further investigation of how Paul viewing Jesus’ resurrection. And Paul expresses different Christ’ works and identities in this passage which providing good resources in preaching and Bible study in the church.
Question
1.Paul does not clearly explain about the status of resurrection, is same as Jesus’ resurrection, is body resurrection (Jesus showed his hands and wound ribs to ten disciples and Thomas) or in other form?
2. The apocalyptic depictions of “word of command”, “archangel figures” and “trumpet of God” have not been explored much in this paper for lack of space. I think we should ponder more in detail.
Paul the Apostle is the central figure in many New Testament writings. Many historians have attributed fourteen New Testament letters to Paul’s writing; seven of these letters are uncontested meaning historians are sure that Paul wrote them, the remaining seven are contested. Paul was not always a Christian; in fact, he persecuted Christians before Christ came and temporarily blinded him. Upon seeing Christ, Paul devoted his life to Christianity and set out to spread the teachings of Christ. Scholars often credit Paul’s leadership to the ability of the Church to become Hellenistic in one generation. Paul also answered specific worries and questions that his converters may have had in many of his writings; one of these writings is 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, Paul set out to deal with the many believers in Corinth who are divided into the followings of Paul or Apollos rather than Christianity as a whole. The converts of Paul in 1 Corinthians 12-14 were divided during times of worship because of jealousy invoked by the spiritual gifts received from the “Spirit”; the worships and the church became a place to boast who is closest to God, instead of a place of worship, interpretation, and love. In 1 Corinthians 14:26-33, Paul set guidelines in times of worship to heal the divide among his converts present in 1 Corinthians 12-14.
The New King James Bible explains, "And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all ... For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man ... If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body" (Acts 4:33 and 1 Corinthians 15:21 and 44). Paul explains that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected. Since Jesus was physically buried, then Jesus ' resurrection would represent Him physically rising from the dead. Moreover, Paul explains that we will be resurrected like Jesus because God created humanity. Humanity cannot be physically resurrected because the human body is perishable. However, the spiritual body is imperishable and will live for eternity. Therefore, our physical bodies will be resurrected into an imperishable spirit. The significance of the passage is to demonstrate the historical event that Jesus ' disciples taught the physical resurrection of Jesus and also humanity will be
Chapter four addresses the divisions within the Corinthian church, such as jealousy, quarrelling and their defective view of the church. The apostle Paul links their view of the church to church leadership stating “If they had a true view of the church, they would have a true view of the leaders of the church” (p79). The situation was that their view was lower for the church and higher for the leaders thus they were boasting about the leaders. Paul’s view was that the Corinthian church was spoon feed Christians not maturing as they should. Paul’s reference to addressing the church as worldly did not mean they were unregenerate because they did possess the Spirit but they were not being spiritual, not being controlled by the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say “They have experienced new birth by the Spirit but have remained babies in Christ; they have not yet become mature in Christ” (p80) The Apostle most likely would express the same opinion about many Church congregations today. Many churches are elated with their church growth, but it is often superficial. If the church does not offer a real growth opportunity the journey is short lived. The church fills up with Christians not participating in the sanctification process. As with many churches today the Corinthians had a self-serving attitude about themselves and their church. The Corinthians would have never behaved the way they did if they had a higher view of the church and what it stood for and a lesser view of the leaders. Paul outlines three visions of the church “each of which has important implications” (p82). The first metaphor is agricultural: God’s field (v9) 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God...
Silva, Moisés. Philippians. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
In approximately 50 A.D. Paul had traveled to Philippi and then to Greece for the first time. During this time, he and two traveling companions, Timothy and Silas, they spread the word about Jesus to the Thessalonians. They formed a community of believers there and Paul was the founder of this new Christian community. He, Timothy, and Silas exercised authority over the Thessalonians according to 1 Thessalonians 4:7. “we were able to impose our weight as apostles of Christ”. The three stayed with the newly founded community for quite a while and it was not specifically stated as to how long they stayed all the book said was that “they stayed for a time to be”.
2- Craig stated that God raised Jesus from the dead. Craig used different individuals and groups of people that experienced appearances of Jesus from the dead. Craig explained the use of Paul in Corinthian 15:3-5 that used quotes for an ancient Christian tradition which goes back to five years after the crucifixion. The events that were outlined consisted of the death of Jesus, the burial by Joseph of Arimathea, the empty tomb, and the appearance narratives. Paul also distinguished between the resurrection appearance of Jesus and the visions of Jesus. Jesus also appeared to his inner circle of disciples, which was attested by Luke, John, and Paul.
In these letters Paul provides the most complete statement of the doctrine in the New Testament. If want to know the ins and outs of Christianity, let people check out the writings of Paul to the Romans. So says a notable interpreter. Because of that this note on Romans should earnestly by every Christian, as very important and contains the full spiritual object.
Specifically, we can see integrated within initial Christian theology that Paul clearly acknowledged the belief that the resurrection had actually happened and that the disciples of Jesus had to reorganize their lives, and their descriptions appropriately (Romans 6:3-11).
As with most other Pauline attributed documents, 1 Corinthians is believed to be a single document that addresses salient topics and rationalizes Paul’s view of faithfulness to Christ with Corinth citizens. The newly founded church of Corinth was in correspondence with Paul requesting his answers to questions they posed on topics ranging from marriage to the resurrection of the dead; the latter being one of the most highlighted in 1 Corinthians. Paul’s assurance of resurrection illustrates a concern for Corinth as he admonishes their disbelief in resurrection of the dead with a series of explanations as to why such doubt would render the faith of Christ “in vain”. Given the context of the time, Paul’s correspondence with Corinth clearly had an original intent of educating and admonishing Corinth on their views on resurrection. However, modern Christianity in its many forms has established an interpretation that slightly strays from its original inscription. Regardless, Paul’s letters not only shaped the ideals of Corinthians believers but influenced the Christian ideals of post mortem resurrection or eternal life as well.
"Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James 1:15), or as Paul puts it in Romans 6:23 " the wages of sin is death". Christ never sinned, and therefore did not earn the wages of sin. Therefore God raised him from the dead "having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." (Acts 2:24). The full story of Christ's death and resurrection can be found in Matthew 27 & 28, Mark 15 & 16, Luke 23 & 24, and John 18 - 21.
If one is to debate the historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus, then one most first examine that which the resurrection account is found in. The largest account of the resurrection can be found the first five books of the New Testament, which are the Gospels. The word gospel comes from the Greek word meaning, “good news” or a message that brings salvation (Gunn, 2013). Mark, which is the first gospel that was written, was influenced by Paul’s usage of the term and used it to describe Jesus’ ministry, works, death and resurrection. The other gospel books followed in suit. The question remains though, are these first century manuscripts historically reliable? The answer to this question is yes but to the extent of their validity depends on whom you ask.
One of the most perplexing events in the ministry of Jesus Christ is His resurrection from the dead. Many skeptics look at it as made up stories or hallucinations, or mass hysteria, yet the biblical accounts and other evidences point to another conclusion. This research paper will explore three pieces of evidence that the resurrection story is factual and can be accepted as a historical event.
In this paper, I will examine Jesus’ resurrection from the dead because, according to many scholars, there is no other event in the life of Jesus that is as significant. In order to better comprehend the magnitude of this event, I will begin by looking at what can be discerned from the Resurrection of Jesus. Then, I will explore the two different kinds of resurrection testimony that there are: the confessional tradition and narrative tradition. For the confessional tradition, I will look at a few examples including St. Paul’s confession in First Corinthians which is composed of four parts: Jesus’ death, the question of the empty tomb, the third day, and the witnesses. For the narrative tradition, I will briefly examine the two sources of information
The word "gospel" is a translation of the Greek word "euangelion" which means "good news. The first three books in the New Testament (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) are often referred to as the Synoptic Gospels (from Greek synoptikos, "seen together") They bear greater similarity to each other than any of the other gospels in the New Testament. Along with these similarities come some differences among the gospels, suggesting that each gospel was written for a specific audience and for a specific purpose. This paper will examine the resurrection of Jesus, while identifying the significant differences between Mark, Matthew and Luke. This paper will also analyze the differences to suggest the prominent theological perspective each gospel author might be trying to convey about the resurrection of Jesus.