Paul, Architect of the faith

4.  Paul’s third missionary journey.

a.   At Ephesus

1.   The ministry of Apollos in Epesus and Corinth.  Acts 18:24-28

2.   The ministry of Paul in Ephesus.  Acts 19:1-41 I Corinthians written.

b.   At Troas he raises Eutychus from the dead.  Acts 20:6-12

c.   At Miletus

1.     He reviews the past

a.   He had been with them two years.  Acts 20:19,31

b.   He taught publicly and from house to house.  Acts 20:20,21

c.      He had declared the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:27

d.     He had coveted no man’s silver.  Acts 20:33

e.      He had exemplified Christ.  Acts 20:35

f.      He was therefore pure from the blood of all men.  Acts 20:26

2.     He views the present.  Acts 20:20,28

3.     He previews the future.  Acts 20:24,29-30

d.   At Tyre he is warned by the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem.  Acts 21:4

e.   At Caesarea

1.  He visits Philip and his four daughters. Acts 21:8-9

2.  He is warned by Agabus not to Jerusalem.  Acts 21:10-11

D.  Paul’s imprisonments and death.

1.   Paul’s final visit to Jerusalem. Acts 21:17-23:30

2.   Paul imprisoned in Caesarea. Acts 23:31-26:32

a.   Before Felix. Acts 23:33-24:27

b.   Before Festus. Acts 25:1-12

c.   Before Agrippa.  Acts 25:13-26:32

3.     Paul’s testimony in Rome. Acts 27:1-28:31

a.      En route to Rome.  Acts 27:1-28:13

b.     Imprisoned in Rome. Acts 28:14-31 He writes Ephesians, Colossians, Philippeans, Philemon

4.     Paul’s release from prison. He writes I Timothy, Titus

5.     Paul’s second imprisonment. He writes II Timothy

E.   Paul’s ministry as a writer.

1.     His letters are of two general types. It must be noted that not every epistle falls completely in one category or the other but rather lies along a continuum.

a.   Tractates - letters that address more general and universal theological issues. (Romans)

b.   Occasional - letters that are addressed to specific issues in one place and time. (I Timothy) This is not to say that these letters do not have broad implications for the whole church but they must be understood as examples of pastoral instruction to rather specific issues.

2.     His style

3.     A list of his letters

a.   Journey epistles - written while on missionary trips

      GALATIANS

      I & II THESSALONIANS

      I & II CORINTHIANS

      ROMANS

b.   Prison epistles - written while in prison

      PHILEMON

      COLOSSIANS

      EPHESIANS

      PHILIPPIANS

c.   Pastoral epistles - written to individual disciples

      I & II TIMOTHY

      TITUS

F.   Paul and historical critical theories of the origin of Christianity.

1.     It cannot be deigned that Paul is the architect of the Gospel story as we understand it today. It is not that he invented the Gospel but rather that he explains it for us. Without Paul’s letters we would have a very different understanding of the Gospel.

2.     Historical Critics have not failed to suspect that Paul’s role (in inventing the Gospel) was far more significant than traditional Christianity has understood it to be. In short, if might be suggested from a critical perspective that there were three important people in the formation of Christianity as we know it.

a.   Jesus – a mysterious Jewish prophet of whom we know very little. It is assumed that the Gospels are historically unreliable being the creative work of the early Christian community in its development of a justification for its existence in following the theology of Paul. The earliest followers of Jesus (Peter and James) represented a sect within Judaism known as Jesists, Ebionites, or Nazarenes.

b.   Paul – He was a frustrated Jewish teacher who, invented a new movement that was less legalistic (more accepting) and open to Gentiles. Christianity is not so much the religion of Jesus (the religion that he himself proclaimed) as the religion about Jesus (the religion that is based on his death and resurrection as invented by Paul.) The delayed coming of the end of the world and the destruction of the Temple (ce70) led to a modification of Paul’s theology shaped by the church fathers.

c.      Constantine – Historical critics tell us that Christianity, as such, was not firmly established as a religion until the time of Constantine the Great, who needed a national religion to solidify his empire. (Same as Jeroboam 1 Kings 12;  26-33 )  He, therefore, adopted the new religion then going into apostasy, and made it into a national sect.  He not only caused its acceptance as the one and only religion of the empire, but he formulated its policies, and caused to be accepted its doctrines, and stigmatized as heretics those who would not accept the new religion, banishing them from his kingdom, or putting them to death.

3.     While much of this theory is pure conjecture based on naturalistic assumptions, it is the way in which some, who reject the Biblical narrative, understand and tell the story of the origin of Christianity.

4.     Paul’s Christian myth had roots in three traditions (two Greek and one Hebrew).

a.   Gnosticism – a world of hellish darkness yarning for light from heaven. This is viewed as the source of Paul’s hostility toward sex.

b.   Mystery religions – sacrificial death of a savior at the hands of evil. The Mithras-cult was thought to provide the origin for the Eucharist.

c.    Judaism – a sense of moral law code and history, a Messiah, a community of the saved, and in some groups an apocalyptic resurrection of the dead.

5.     The Damascus Road experience of Paul focused these three elements in his thinking, meeting his need for personal fulfillment, separating him from his Jewish roots, and endearing him more to Gentile culture.

6.     The Gospels were written to give a “historical” foundation to Paul’s theology. Critics point out that there is evidence in the NT that Paul was at odds with the Jewish followers of Jesus in Jerusalem (called Nazarenes and later in the 2^nd century, Ebionites who rejected the deity of Jesus yet believed he was the Messiah).

7.     Critics also emphasize the tension between Paul and Peter (along with James) suggesting that the Pauline Christian Church and the Jerusalem (Jewish) Christian Church (Nazarenes – later Ebionites) were quite distinct and at odes with each other.

8.     It was believed that during the first 4 centuries of the Christian era, what came to be known as the orthodox Christian position, evolved through many redactions.

9.     For a critical review of the Historical Critical method see apttoteach.org theology file #212.

G.  The new perspective in the study of Paul’s theology

1.     Recent studies of Paul challenge a number of traditional views associated with Paul’s teaching. The studies suggest that:

a.      Justification by faith was not a new idea.

b.     Faith did not replace works as a part of salvation.

c.      Law does not stand in opposition to grace.

d.     Paul’s focus was not on the individual but the community.

e.      Judaism was not a religion of merit.

f.      Judaism did resolve Paul’s burden of guilt.

2.     This perspective draws heavily upon extra biblical material concerning the history of Palestinian Jewish thought at the time of Paul’s writing. E.P. Sanders’ work summarizes this perspective. Source: Cornelis P. Venema (www.wrfnet.org/articles/printarticle.asp?ID=629)

a.   The traditional Protestant view of (Palestinian) Judaism seriously distorts its true character. Judaism, at the time of the writing of the New Testament and of Paul’s letters, did not teach that a person is saved through works or human achievement. Rather, Judaism taught that God saved his people Israel on the basis of his gracious election and mercy.

b.   The traditional Protestant claim that the teaching of Roman Catholicism was a new version of the old error of Pharisaism (which teaches salvation through works) is, therefore, incorrect.

c.   Palestinian Judaism exhibited a pattern of religion that is best termed “covenantal nomism” (E. P. Sanders). In this pattern of religion, one becomes a member of God’s covenant community by grace, and one remains a member by works performed in obedience to the law. “Getting in” the covenant is by grace; “staying in” (and being vindicated at the last judgment) is by works.

d.   The apostle Paul’s argument with Judaism (and therefore the Judaizers) was not aimed at its legalism. Nor was Paul’s argument with Judaism based upon the assumption that the law can only condemn Jews and Gentiles alike as sinners. The starting point for Paul’s quarrel with Judaism was that it was not Christianity. Since salvation comes to all (for Jews and Gentiles) who believe in the crucified Christ, the great problem of Judaism is its exclusivism, not its legalism. The problem with Judaism was not so much its insistence upon the necessity of obedience to the law, but its insistence that Gentiles must become (through obedience to the law) Jews in order to be saved.

e.   The apostle Paul developed his doctrine of the human plight (of sin) from his doctrine of salvation through faith in Christ. Because faith in Christ is the only basis for salvation, obedience to the (Jewish) law may not be imposed upon anyone as the basis for inclusion among God’s people.

f.    Paul’s doctrine of justification is not the principal focus or emphasis in his writings. Justification by grace through faith in Christ was Paul’s explanation of how God is fulfilling his promise to embrace Gentiles as well as Jews among his people. God’s righteousness, which is the basis for the believer’s justification, is his gracious act of including Gentiles among the number of his people. Justification is about who belongs to God’s covenant people, not how a sinner can find favor with God through the perfect obedience and substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.

g.   Justification, though it has to do with our standing before God or being numbered among his covenant people, does not require that God graciously grant and impute the perfect righteousness of Christ to believers.

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