Posts Tagged ‘Life of St. Paul (2008)’
Life of St. Paul – Introduction
Analyzing the years during which Passover fell on a Friday, Christ died either in A.D. 30 or A.D. 33. David Higbee tends to lean towards the latter. One of his main reasons is that Pilate would have still had a Roman protector in A.D. 30, thus his capitulation to the Jewish leaders in crucifying Christ…
Read MoreLife of St. Paul – Upbringing and Conversion
In His Providence, God equipped Paul with many of the skills that he would need to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, long before he fell off his horse on the road to Damascus. Just a few of these skills included a great Jewish memory, proficiency in Greek, and training in philosophy. Physically, this man…
Read MoreLife of St. Paul – Preparation for Ministry
Biblical data on Paul’s life in the first years after his conversion can be found only in Acts and Galatians. In the latter source, Paul affirms that the basis of his Gospel is Jesus Christ’s personal revelation coupled with his rabbinical study. No individual, in Jerusalem or elsewhere, taught Paul the Christian way during these…
Read MoreLife of St. Paul – Context of Paul’s Ministry
The persecution of ”the Way” that followed the stoning of Stephen spurred a large Jewish Christian diaspora. Jewish Christians living in Jerusalem spread all across the Mediterranean world. While many of them kept solely Hebraic social circles after settling into new homes, the exceptions were the inhabitants of Cyprus and Cyrene (a region in North…
Read MoreLife of St. Paul – First Missionary Journey
Having powerfully witnessed Christ on the road to Damascus, Saul finds his zeal redirected and renewed towards the Gospel. But who in the early Church (which was almost entirely Jewish) could have imagined the great outpouring of faith upon the Gentiles that came from the ”First Missionary Journey”? After praying and fasting, the leaders of…
Read MoreLife of St. Paul – Ending the First Missionary Journey, Beginning the Second
After Paul leaves Perga, his company arrives in Antioch in Pisidia (a different Antioch than the great Syrian city). Soon their ministry to the Gentiles spreads throughout this entire region. Such success brought much consternation to a number of Jews. In every synagogue and Gentile gathering, Paul takes every opportunity to boldly proclaim the Gospel.…
Read MoreLife of St. Paul – Closing the Second Missionary Journey
After a brief of discussion Corinth and how it is important as one of the most detailed descriptions of the early Church, we move back to the second missionary journey, describing how Paul corrects some of the errors of Apollos other Ephesians. While in Ephesus, several people who had in the past practiced magic publicly…
Read MoreLife of St. Paul – Paul in Jerusalem and Rome
Paul is welcomed by the brethren in Jerusalem, and is shown many Jewish converts to Christianity who are zealous for the law. Many of these had heard that Paul advises converts to forsake Moses, and Paul is told to — and does indeed — help some converts to perform a purification ritual to prove that…
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