Paul’s Letters: Jesus the Universal Lord

CHAPTER EIGHT

- Saul of Tarsus, future St. Paul, was an extraordinary disciple of Jesus

- 13 of 27 New Testament books are attributed to him but he probably only wrote seven

- He persecuted Christians before his revelation

- Was baptized by Ananias

- His upbringing in Tarsus made him familiar with Gentile religions, philosophies, and customs

Life of St. Paul

Journey 1 Island of Cyprus and the Asia Minor locales

-Paul engaged in three extensive missionary journeys:

Journey 2 Antioch was starting point and visited first journey locations and other cities

Antioch was again the starting point. He revisited some cities from his second journey, but remained in Ephesus for three years

Journey 3

Letters of Paul

1 Thessalonians

- Earliest NT writing

• Dates from only twenty years after Jesus’ life

- Encourages Thessalonians, defends his proclamation of the gospel, shares news of his travel plans, and addresses two issues:

1.) Advised the Thessalonians to remain holy

2.) Assured them that Christians who had died would rise one day and live with the Lord forever

Letters of Paul

Galatians

- First of Paul’s so-called “great” letters

- Paul expresses anger toward the Jewish-Christian evangelists who introduced division in his

Galatian churches

- Doctrinal section of Paul’s letters answers his opponents charges

- Paul uses a scriptural argument to defend the truth that faith brings about a right relationship with God

Letters of Paul

Philemon

- Paul encourages his friend Philemon to accept back his runaway slave as his brother

- Paul does not want Philemon to punish the slave, and hints towards freeing him.

- Paul is trying to show that the slave is also transformed in Jesus Christ, and therefore a brother

Letters of Paul

1 Corinthians

- Corinth had a reputation for permitting every known vice and being immoral

- Paul wrote a letter to warn them away from immorality

- Body of the letter has the following themes: •Divisions in the Corinthian church

• Problems in Christian morality and living • Problems in Christian worship • The Resurrection

Letters of Paul

2 Corinthians

- Neither the first nor second letter had much impact, so Paul wrote a third letter harshly critical of Corinthian abuse (letter is now lost)

• Major problem this time was false teachers who had influenced the Corinthians to go against teachings of Paul

- Titus brought good news about Corinthians: they were beginning to respond to Paul’s word and reject false teachings

Letters of Paul

2 Corinthians

- In response to good news, Paul wrote 2 Corinthians

- The body of the work deals with:•Paul’s past relationships with the Corinthians• His ministry among them• Praise for their repentance• Appeal for the collection for the church in Jerusalem• Defense of his ministry against false teachers

Letters of Paul

Romans

- Paul’s letter of introduction to the Christians living in Rome

- Longest letter and his deepest theologically

- Treats in more detail some themes Paul introduced in Galatians

- Central theme is: Faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection reconciles us to God

Letters of Paul

5 Key Points in Romans:

A description of the human condition before Christ

Justification through faith in Christ

Salvation and Christian freedom

God’s plan for Israel

Christian behavior

Deuteropauline Letters

- Six letters might have been written by a close disciple of Paul

- Reflect Paul’s thought, but have different vocabulary, style, theological themes, content, and historicalcontext

Deuteropauline Letters2 Thessalonians

- Some thought Paul wrote it shortly after his first letter to the Thessalonians to address a misunderstanding about his teaching about the resurrection

-Current scholars favor that it is a pseudonymous letter • Written under someone else’s name

-Readers are told that Jesus will not come again until certain signs take place

- People need to prepare themselves with patience and prayer

Deuteropauline LettersColossians

-Colossian, Philippians, Philemon, and Ephesians are the “Captivity Letters”

• Each reveal that its author was imprisoned

- Few doubt that Paul wrote Philemon and Philippians

- Scholars believe one of Paul’s disciples wrote Ephesians and Colossians

- Colossians was written to counteract some teachings that claimed Christ’s death and resurrection were not enough for salvation

Deuteropauline Letters

Ephesians

- Likely the work of a secretary or admirer of Paul

- Draws out more explicitly some of the themes in `Colossians

- More of an essay than a letter

Body has two main divisions:

1.) Mystery of salvation related to the Church

2.) Paul’s exhortation to Christians to live in unity

Deuteropauline Letters

1 and 2 Timothy and Titus

- “Pastoral Letters”

• Written by one pastor (shepherd) to two other pastors

• Addressed to individuals

• Give advice on Church leadership

Deuteropauline Letters

Key Teachings of Titus and 1 Timothy:

- Severe warning against false teachings and teachers - Many practical instructions for Church organization - Instructions for Christian worship - Instructions for Christian living

- 2 Timothy is more of a personal letter, a last testament from the older apostle to Timothy

• Asceticism

• Deuteropauline

• Gnosticism

• Pseudonymous

•Tarsus

•Prison Letters

•Thessalonians

•3 Journeys

•1 Corinthians 13

Vocabulary