Life Of Paul Essay, Research Paper
Life of Paul
The life of the Apostle Paul is a really long and complex narrative. Through much research and idea of an attack, I have found the best manner to give an history is to really tell the life that he led. In this paper I will try to give a testimony of how I perceived the life of Paul. In my position, his life consists of four parts: his life before the transition, the existent transition, his life through the three renowned missional journeys, and the testimony he gives throughout. The letters he wrote through this clip and the assorted autobiographical information supplied in the Bibles besides takes on a big sum of the concentration.
The first country I would wish to detect in the life of Paul is his existent life before the transition. This Judaic Pharisee is first seen or heard of with his Hebrew name Saul ( Acts 7:58 ; 13:9 ) . Harmonizing to The Dictionary of Paul and His Letterss, Paul was born in Tarsus in Cilicia. This topographic point of beginning is located in Asia Minor or modern southern Turkey. Equally far as we know, he was born around ten old ages after Christ. This premise is gathered since he is referred to as a & # 8216 ; immature adult male & # 8217 ; at the clip of Stephen & # 8217 ; s lapidation ( Act 7:58 ) . We know that Paul & # 8217 ; s male parent was decidedly Judaic, but he evidently had been bought or given Roman citizenship. This is shown by Paul doing usage of the fact that he was born a Roman citizen to give him the right to be tried in Rome by Caesar ( Acts 22:25 ) . He was brought up in a devout Judaic household from the folk of Benjamin. He so received careful direction in the Judaic jurisprudence and joined the Pharisees. To add to Paul & # 8217 ; s wide upbringing, he called himself a & # 8216 ; Hebrew of the Hebrew & # 8217 ; . He was brought up in conformity with the Law, he was circumcised on the 8th twenty-four hours, and had become avid to follow every facet of the Mosaic bids ( Phil. 3:5-6 ) . Paul traveled at some phase of his life, likely sometime while he was a adolescent, to Jerusalem where he studied under the celebrated instructor named Gamaliel. We find grounds of this while he spoke to the Judaic leaders of that clip: & # 8216 ; Under Gamaliel I was exhaustively trained in the jurisprudence of our male parents and was merely every bit avid for God as any of you are today & # 8217 ; ( Acts 22:3 ) . Even renowned Judaic instructors were expected to hold a certain trade, and so it comes as no surprise that this extensively educated spiritual leader had besides been taught a trade by his male parent. This trade was being a tent-maker ( Acts 18:3 ) . At clip to clip he mentioned of how he worked to back up himself ( I Corinthians 4:12 ; 2 Thess. 3:8 etc. ) . This gives us grounds in these and other transitions that Paul intentionally worked so he wouldn & # 8217 ; t enforce a load on any that he wished to proclaim the perfectly & # 8216 ; free & # 8217 ; Gospel ( 1 Cor. 9:16-19 ) . To avoid being classified as another going instructor or philosopher who frequently expected people to back up them with nutrient and fundss, I believe Paul intentionally worked ( 1 Thess. 2:3-6 ) .
Bing educated as he was and with such a universally acceptable trade, it is likely that Paul had traveled widely even before he became a Christian. He would, of class, have been fluent in Greek and Hebrew or Aramaic ( perchance both ) . He is foremost encountered in Acts, watching people & # 8217 ; s vesture as the crowds stoned Stephen to decease for his religion, committedness to Christ, and his desire to advance the Gospel. & # 8216 ; Saul was there giving his blessing to his decease & # 8217 ; ( Acts 7:58-8:1 ) .
Not all of Paul & # 8217 ; s life was spent as a great missionary of God. The anterior old ages to his missional yearss were exhausted educating himself, practising his trade, or oppressing Christians. The latter times before Paul & # 8217 ; s transition were largely spent oppressing the Christians. From the twenty-four hours of Stephen & # 8217 ; s decease a great persecution broke out against the followings of Jesus. Saul, as he was known so, had such avid activity as a Jew that it led him to fall in the persecutions. He volunteered his services to the Judaic leaders in Jerusalem. So violent was his persecution that we read: & # 8216 ; Saul began to destruct the church. Traveling from house to house, he dragged off work forces and adult females and set them in prison & # 8217 ; ( Acts 8:3 ; 1 Cor. 15:9 ; Phil. 3:6 ) . In Acts 9:1 it tells of how Saul, & # 8216 ; take a breathing out homicidal menaces against the Lord & # 8217 ; s disciples & # 8217 ; , went to the high priest for letters he could take with him to the temples in Damascus in order to prosecute the persecution at that place every bit good.
This is where we come to the turning point in Paul & # 8217 ; s life. It was while he was on his manner to Damascus that Acts 9 Tells us a bright visible radiation from Eden flashed around him, throwing him to the land and blinding him. While he was still puting on the land, a voice spoke to him stating, & # 8216 ; Saul, Saul, why do you oppress me? & # 8217 ; Paul so asked in returned confusion, & # 8216 ; Who are you, Lord? & # 8217 ; merely to have the terrorization words: & # 8216 ; I am Jesus, whom you are oppressing & # 8217 ; ( Acts 9:4-5 ) . Saul was hence instructed to travel to Damascus and wait for farther instructions. He waited there for three yearss without feeding and imbibing. After these three yearss of complete and entire darkness for Saul, he was told to travel the house of the Christian Ananias. I think this clip was likely a clip of fasting and penitence for Saul for we are told when Ananias came to Saul, he found him praying ( Acts 9:11 ) . Ananias laid custodies on Paul, his sight was restored, he received the Holy Spirit and he was baptized. He so spent several yearss with the adherents in Damascus, no uncertainty larning every bit much as he could approximately Jesus. Nevertheless, there wasn & # 8217 ; t much clip for larning since he & # 8216 ; at one time began to prophesy in the temples that Jesus is the Son of God & # 8217 ; ( Acts 9:20 ) . Although new and inexperient with the thought of prophesying about Jesus Christ, his extraordinary theological apprehension coupled with the complete alteration in his position on Christ, enabled him to & # 8216 ; baffle the Jews & # 8217 ; in Damascus & # 8216 ; by turn outing that Jesus is the Christ & # 8217 ; ( Acts 9:22 ) .
After some sum of clip, the Jews became enraged with the instant alteration of Paul insisted on a secret plan to assassinate him. He escaped by dark and, finally, came back to Jerusalem. It was difficult to run into with the adherents though for they had become afraid of Paul. This is where Barnabas came into the image. Barnabas took Paul in and brought him to the apostles who gave him their blessing. Paul so continued to prophesy until his life was threatened one time once more. The adherents so took him to Caesarea where he boarded a boat for Tarsus ( Acts 9:29-30 ; Gal. 1:18-24 ) . This is the terminal of the transition experience for Paul. Paul himself recounted this transition experience on two other occasions. In the first case in Acts 22 it was following his apprehension in Jerusalem when he asked to be allowed to talk to the crowds. The 2nd case is recorded in Acts 26 when Paul was talking in his ain defence before King Agrippa.
This is where we foremost encounter the construct of Paul being called to the Gentiles. Paul made reference of this particular naming of God to a ministry among the Gentiles ( Rom. 11:13 ; Gal. 2:8 ; 1 Tim. 2:7 ) . Although Peter was called to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles, the Bible tells clearly that they both preached whenever, wherever, and to whoever would listen. Paul in fact normally went foremost to the temple in each town he visited.
This is when we move into the celebrated missional journeys. The first missional journey was likely made sometime between AD 47 and AD 48. Paul and Barnabas went to Barnabas & # 8217 ; place state of Cyprus. Right across the island they preached. When they reached the town of Pathos, Paul was given the chance to prophesy the Gospel to the proconsul of Sergius Paulus. When a certain Judaic prestidigitator named Bar-Jesus questioned and rejected Paul, he made him blind. Then the proconsul believed, & # 8216 ; for he was amazed at the learning about the Lord & # 8217 ; ( Acts 13:12 ) . This transition might hold been the concluding verification for Paul and his Gentile ministry. From this point onwards Saul was called by his Latin name Paul ( Acts 13:9 ) . From Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas set canvas for Perga in Asia Minor ( modern Turkey ) . It was when they arrived there that John Mark who had been going with them, left the group and returned to Jerusalem. They so traveled north to Pisidian Antioch. This is where the confrontation with the Hebrews about prophesying to the Gentiles arose. The Jews grew covetous and began to curse, so Paul told them that they were to be told about the Gospel foremost, but since they rejected it when they were so he would now state the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas were shortly run out of the metropolis by the Jews.
The following halt was east Iconium. Then they went south to Lystra. Th
is was one of the first widely known healing for Paul. In Lystra Paul healed a crippled adult male who had no usage of his since birth. The people at that place began to idolize Paul and Barnabas stating the Gods are here with us. They named Barnabas “Zeus” and Paul “Hermes” . Paul and Barnabas got word of this though and rupture their apparels. They spoke to the crowds and revealed where the healing was from and said we are mere persons ( Acts 14:15 ) . The Jews from Antioch so arrived and stoned Paul and drug him out of the metropolis ’supposing that he was dead’ ( Acts 14:19 ) .
They so went on the Derbe before retracing their stairss and sailing back to Antioch from Attalia. Back in Antioch some instructors arrived from Judea reasoning the point of true redemption was dependent upon Circumcision. The church of Antioch so decided to direct the two back to Jerusalem for the celebrated Jerusalem Council with the other apostles.
This meeting was attended by the Christian apostles and the leaders in Jerusalem ( Acts 15:1-35 ) . The apostles so arguments and dug into the topic of Circumcision in which Paul had a big portion of class. He insisted that God had made no fondness between anyone so who were they to get down. Paul & # 8217 ; s stand for the cosmopolitan significance of the gospel message had been vindicated.
After this they decided to ship on the 2nd missional journey. This journey lasted from around AD 49 to AD 52 ( Acts 15:36-18:22 ) . This journey covered from Asia Minor into southeasterly Europe as good. This began with the dissension between Paul and Barnabas refering John Mark. So the two separated. Paul took Silas north with him to Antioch in Syria, on to Tarsus and back through the late founded churches in Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium. Barnabas and John Mark went on their manner to Cyprus to go on work at that place.
While is Lystra, Paul was introduced to a adult male who became one of his closest friends, Timothy. Timothy had a Judaic female parent and a Grecian male parent. So Paul, being concerned about the Judaic informant of Timothy, urged him to be circumcised. It was one thing for a Jew to be circumcised in order better to make his ain people with the Gospel, but wholly another to implement Circumcision on Gentiles based on some false apprehension that they needed to be & # 8216 ; Jews & # 8217 ; in order to be proper Christians! The following portion of the journey was into new district. They made an overland trip to Troas ( Acts 16:7 ) . This is where Paul had a vision of a adult male naming him to come and curate in Macedonia. So they moved on and crossed into the Grecian state of Macedonia where they preached in Neapolis, Phillipi, Thessalonica and Berea. The clip spent in Phillipi was where they met Lydia of Thyatira. She believed along with her family, down by the river, and Paul and Silas stayed in her place. The following twenty-four hours Paul cast a spirit out the immature slave-girl and made the misss proprietors ferocious. Paul and Silas were thrown in gaol. That dark while singing anthem, an temblor shook the Gatess loose and released them. The guard was about to kill himself for allowing them acquire off when Paul said & # 8216 ; here we are & # 8217 ; and went back in. Paul told the guard how to be saved and he and his family were. The following twenty-four hours they were released because of their Roman citizenship.
From there they set canvas South and preached in Athens and so to Corinth, where he stayed for 18 months, before traversing back to Ephesus in Asia Minor and on to Caesarea, Jerusalem and back to Antioch.
This journey & # 8217 ; s high spots were legion. The churches founded during the first journey were settling down good and more and more were added to their figure ( Acts 16-19 ) . In Athens, Paul had seen at least a few transitions while debating with the greatest philosophers of the age. Back in Corinth, Paul gained a close friendly relationship with Priscilla and Aquilla ( Acts 18: 1-3 ) . They accompanied him from Corinth over to Ephesus where they helped Apollos understand more of the truth of the Gospel. Paul meanwhile stopped merely briefly in Ephesus before returning to Caesarea and Jerusalem where he greeted the church and so returned one time more traveling to Antioch.
Paul stayed a piece in Antioch before go forthing for his 3rd missional journey. This trip took topographic point at some clip around AD 53 through AD 57 ( Acts 18:23-21:16 ) . On this trip Paul one time once more traveled North and west overland revisiting the churches in Galatia and Phrygia ( Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia ) . He eventually arrived in Ephesus and encountered some adherents. They had merely received the Baptism of John the Baptist, so Paul informed them of Jesus Christ and having the Holy Spirit, they were instantly baptized & # 8216 ; into the name of the Lord Jesus & # 8217 ; and the spirit came upon them ( Acts 19:1-7 ) . In Acts 19:20 we find an accurate summarisation of this ministry period. & # 8220 ; In this manner he word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. & # 8217 ;
This was the period when the great public violence occurred in Ephesus or the temple to Artemis ( 1 Cor. 15:32 ; Rom. 16:3-4 ; 2 Cor. 1:8-11 ) . Paul so sent Timothy and Erastus on in front to Macedonia. Paul shortly after sailed over to Macedonia retracing his earlier ministry through Phillipi, Thessalonica and Berea. From there he set canvas halting a assorted ports on the manner south including Miletus where he met the seniors of the Ephesian church. The last important port on the journey was at Tyre. There the prophesier Agabus warned Paul non to travel to Jerusalem because his life would be in danger. The prognostication was to be fulfilled though.
Paul went back to Jerusalem and merely like the prognostication said he was arrested because of the hostility of the Jews. This clip was really feverish for Paul. He shuffled between meeting and testifying in forepart of the Saducees and the Pharisees, being taken to Caesarea to show the missive to the governor and give a defence before Felix, and so on to Rome when he would be tried before Caesar. After the test, Paul was placed on house apprehension in Rome where it is believed he wrote most of the epistles. He lived there prophesying until his release. Then he traveled to Spain for a short clip. He was so rearrested and taken back to Rome. Tradition has it that Paul died in Rome a sufferer at the custodies of Nero around AD 67.
Last, the Hagiographas of Paul carry on his great missional life and journeys. The order of these Hagiographas and the beginning are some enigmas. The early and major epistles include Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans. The prison epistles include Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Then there are the pastoral epistles: 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Below is an lineation of the order and day of the months I believe to be closest to the grade:
Galations & # 8211 ; 48 AD ( Written before Jerusalem Council because there is no reference of it in the book. )
1 & A ; 2 Thessalonians & # 8211 ; 51 Ad
1 & A ; 2 Corithians & # 8211 ; 56 Ad
Romans -57 AD
Collosians & # 8211 ; 60 Ad
Philippians -60-62 AD ( Rome imprisonment most accurate beginning because of freedom to prophesy and distribute the word.
Philemon & # 8211 ; 60-62 AD
Paul & # 8217 ; s life is a really complex and interesting topic. I have simply tried to cover a basic overview. This effort is by no agencies a complete life of Paul & # 8217 ; s life. This is merely a sum-up of the achievements and landmarks his mission left behind for all of us.
Bibliography
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