what is the basis for paul’s apostleshipâ€â€his claim to have been personally sent by jesus?
Paul was a follower of Jesus Christ who famously converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus after persecuting the very followers of the community that he joined. Even so, every bit nosotros will see, Paul is meliorate described as i of the founders of the faith rather than a convert to information technology. Scholars attribute seven books of the New Attestation to Paul; he was an influential teacher and a missionary to much of Asia Minor and present-day Hellenic republic.
A Founder of Christianity
In the last century, scholars have come to capeesh Paul equally the actual founder of the religious movement that would go Christianity. Paul was a Diaspora Jew, a member of the party of the Pharisees, who experienced a revelation of the resurrected Jesus. After this feel, he traveled widely throughout the eastern Roman Empire, spreading the "good news" that Jesus would soon return from sky and conductor in the reign of God ("the kingdom"). Paul was not establishing a new religion; he believed that his generation was the final before the end fourth dimension when this historic period would be transformed. Even so, as time passed and Jesus did not return, the second century Church Fathers turned to Paul's writings to validate what would ultimately be the creation of Christian dogma. Thus, Paul could exist viewed every bit the founder of Christianity as a separate religion apart from Judaism.
In Christian tradition, he is known as Paul of Tarsus, as this is where Luke says he was born (Acts 9:11). At the time, Tarsus was located in the province of Cilicia, now modern Turkey. However, Paul himself indicates that he was from the area of Damascus which was in Syrian arab republic (meet the letter to the Galatians). Luke has provided many of the standard elements in Paul's life, just nigh of these items stand in stark opposition to what Paul himself reveals in his letters. For instance, Luke claims that Paul grew up in Jerusalem, studying at the feet of many who would exist considered the get-go rabbis of normative Judaism, and eventually becoming a member of the council, or the Sanhedrin. Paul himself says that he but visited Jerusalem twice, and even and then his stay was a few days. What exercise we do about such contradictions?
Paul said he received a vision of the resurrected Jesus, who commissioned him to exist the Campaigner to the gentiles.
On the one paw, Luke has a very obvious agenda in his presentation of Paul as someone who willingly obeys any dictates from Jerusalem, consulting them constantly on how he should run his "mission". On the other hand, Paul has an agenda as well, claiming that no ane human told him what to do, but that information technology was the resurrected Christ who gave him the game programme (see Galatians), and so he continually dismisses any influence from Jerusalem in his overall activities. In the final analysis, it is commonly best to consult Paul's letters over Luke's version in terms of historicity when it comes to both Paul'south motivation and his bodily piece of work.
Paul'south Works
In the New Attestation, we have 14 messages traditionally assigned to Paul, but the scholarly consensus at present holds that of the 14, seven were actually written by Paul:
- 1 Thessalonians
- Galatians
- Philemon
- Philippians
- 1 & 2 Corinthians
- Romans
The others were almost probable written past a disciple of Paul'due south, using his name to acquit potency. Nosotros understand these messages to be circumstantial, meaning they were never intended as systematic theology or as treatises on Christianity. In other words, the letters are responses to detail problems and circumstances as they arose in diverse communities. They were not written as universal dictates to serve as Christian ideology only but came to take importance and significance over fourth dimension.
Paul's Conversion
Paul was a Pharisee, and claims that when information technology came to "the Law," he was more than zealous and knew more near the police than anyone else. For the most role in his letters, the Law at outcome was the Law of Moses. He was of the tribe of Benjamin (and thus Luke could use the prior name Saul, a quite famous Benjaminite proper name; name changes often go with a change of viewpoint in terms of a new person - Abram to Abraham, Jacob to State of israel, Simon to Peter, etc.) He has as well become the most famous catechumen in history. Existence struck bullheaded on the road to Damascus has become a metaphor for sudden enlightenment and conversion.
However, 'catechumen' is not the most accurate term to be applied to him. Conversion assumes changing from one kind of belief to another. In that location are ii problems with this concept as applied to Paul:
- at the time, there was essentially no Christian faith for him to convert to
- Paul himself is cryptic when it comes to understanding what he would take considered himself.
When he says "When among the gentiles, I acted as a gentile, and when among the Jews, I acted as Jew; I was all things to all men," information technology does not help us resolve the question. In talking about what happened to Paul, information technology is probably better to say that he was chosen by God, in the tradition of the calling of prophets of ancient Israel.
In Galatians, Paul said he received a vision of the resurrected Jesus, who commissioned him to be the Apostle to the gentiles. This was crucial for Paul in terms of his dominance. Anybody knew that he was never one of the inner circle, so a directive direct from Jesus was the way in which Paul argued that he had as much authority equally the earlier Apostles. This is also crucially important in unraveling Paul's views of the Law of Moses when information technology comes to his recruitment area and something that should ever exist borne in heed when trying to analyze his views.
Paul's call to be the Campaigner to the gentiles was shocking because, as he freely admits, he had previously persecuted the church of God. What a loaded sentence! Nigh scholars cannot agree on what this means. The first problem is with the word 'persecuted'. In Greek, this could mean anything from heckling to throwing eggs to concrete abuse. He never really explains it, nor does he give any caption as to why he did it. Luke says that he used to vote the death penalty for Christians in the Sanhedrin and and then he obtained abort warrants from the high priest to arrest Christians in Damascus (where he had his revelation). This is hyperbole on Luke's part; the loftier priest at the fourth dimension had no such authorization, especially in another province.
Saints Peter and Paul, from a Catacomb Etching
Paul as a Persecutor
Paul probably meted out what he himself received - the 39 lashes, a form of synagogue discipline. Only this raises more questions. Synagogue councils had authority but upon the agreement of those in the community. In other words, Paul could accept walked away from this, but he did not - over again, does this bespeak that he however saw himself every bit a Jew? And over again, what did he receive the lashes for? What were Christians saying/doing that would lead to disciplinary activity? Many theories have been offered over the centuries:
- Christians taught confronting the Law of Moses. This is true when it came to gentiles, only so gentiles were never expected to follow the Law anyhow.
- Christians were stirring people up with messianic fervor. These were the decades leading upwards to the Jewish Revolt. Did synagogue authorities run across such preaching every bit a threat to the peace of their customs vis-à-vis Rome?
- Christians and Jews were in difficult-fought competition for the souls of those gentiles who were hanging out at the synagogues and Jews saw the Christians equally a threat to their recruitment areas. This 1 is plainly imitation; Judaism was not a missionary religion.
- Paul, like John, contains high Christology. His experience of seeing Jesus in heaven means that Jesus was already deified in a sense for him. And he advocated worship of Jesus, which is probably the turning point between Jews and Christians. He repeats a hymn he had inherited in his letter of the alphabet to the Philippians:
5 In your relationships with 1 another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
half dozen Who, beingness in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he fabricated himself cipher
past taking the very nature of a retainer,
being fabricated in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance equally a human being,
he humbled himself
by condign obedient to death—
fifty-fifty death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every proper name,
ten that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and nether the world,
xi and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
"That every human knee should bow," indicates worship. Hellenistic Judaism had incorporated a multitude of heavenly beings, with accompanying hierarchies (archangels, cherubim, seraphim, etc.), but no one always advocated worshipping any of these beings - that was reserved for God lonely. This is where Christians would begin the process of separating from the mother religion.
Paul & the Police force
Paul's job, as he saw it, was to bring "the expert news" to the gentiles. Almost everything he writes about the Police force pertains to this. The Police of Moses was never understood to exist applied to the gentiles in Israelite tradition, so gentiles need not be discipline to circumcision, dietary laws, or Sabbath regulations. These three are the focus, every bit they are physical rituals that keep communities separated, and Paul sought to interruption down barriers betwixt communities. Paul was determined on the subject. One of the reasons is that it is probably what he experienced - he nigh likely observed some manifestation of the spirit take identify, when gentiles were baptized (such as speaking in tongues, the room shaking, prophecy, etc.), and and so he was convinced. If God chose to validate gentiles in this fashion, how could they not be included in the kingdom?
But Paul has a problem. He was a Pharisee. The Police force held dandy meaning for him. How could God take created the Police, but and so non apply information technology universally? This is where it gets a little sticky - he can never say that the Constabulary is not practiced, so he defends it, but at the same time, information technology does not apply to gentiles. And in doing so, he sometimes paints himself into a corner and provides centuries of scholarly books and commentaries on this very bailiwick.
Page of Early on Pauline Espitles
The letter to the Galatians deals with this problem of the Constabulary. Paul's plan was to establish communities throughout the Eastern Empire, and then stay in touch on through letters or revisit them to see how they were doing. Galatia was a province in key Turkey. Obviously, after Paul left, others came forth and taught a different gospel. Paul was outraged by this. As he said, "Even if delivered by angels, there IS no other gospel than his." This dissimilar gospel advocated circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath duties, the very thing that Paul had fought against. So, he repeated his educational activity on this affair for those communities.
Turning to scripture, he found his rationale in the story of the phone call of Abraham in Genesis 12. With both the name (male parent of nations) and the promise, Paul claimed that gentiles were included in this original covenant ("nations," in Greek, ethnos, is what is translated as "gentiles"). But and then, why did God give the Police force of Moses, which limits inclusion? Paul argued that the Police force served equally a pedagogus. A pedagogus was a tutor, most often a slave, who accompanied young boys to school, and also offered classes in the home. In other words, the Law served as a guide to define sin, for if we did not know what sin was, how could nosotros cull? Merely now Christ is the "telos of the Police." Some Bibles translate this every bit "the terminate of the Law," but more accurately, it ways "the goal of the Law."
Does this hateful that Jewish followers of Christ no longer had to follow the Law? Of course not - if you are born under the Police, you lot are required to follow information technology.
Paul claimed that gentiles are saved by faith alone, & not past works of the Law.
Over the centuries, Paul'southward educational activity was summed up in the phrase, "the police force-costless mission to the gentiles," merely this is actually a misnomer and led to many wrong conclusions on Paul's thought. His gentiles were to exist gratis of circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath regulations, but they were non totally gratis from the Law. Practise not imagine for one moment that Paul let his gentiles keep with idolatry or whatsoever other infidel customs, and he incorporated Jewish ethical and charitable concepts into his communities. In his volume, Paul, E. P. Sanders applies modern social scientific methods to the study of Paul's views of the Law and concludes that he follows a pattern of organized religion, or how one gets in, and how one stays in. For Paul, the gentiles get in not by following the Constabulary, but once in, they follow the Constabulary (or Paul'southward version of information technology).
Another phrase of Paul's became the ground of centuries of commentary, culminating in Martin Luther's separation from the church of Rome. Paul claimed that gentiles are saved by religion lonely, and not by works of the Police force. What he meant by works of the Law were those ritual barriers between communities: circumcision, dietary laws, etc. But for centuries, it was understood as the great divide between Judaism and Christianity. A conscientious reading of his letters indicates that Paul is non setting himself upward against Judaism per se, but against those other Christians who believe that gentiles take to become Jews offset earlier entering the community. Who were these other Christians? We think they were probably gentile-Christians, not Jews. So why would gentile-Christians advocate circumcision?
Paul says that afterward he had been in the mission field several years, he went up to Jerusalem for a meeting over the gentiles (which may or may non be the coming together Luke relates in Acts fifteen). The timing was odd (scholars identify the coming together circa 49/fifty). And, according to Luke, gentiles had been canonical later on Peter'southward meeting with Cornelius, so why, years later, is a meeting required to settle the issue? 1 theory is that time was passing and Jesus had not returned. Possibly some gentile-Christians idea they had erred by not becoming Jews first and idea that past doing so, it would help speed up the time for the end.
Paul is not worried about the fourth dimension in the same manner. With his own experience, he decided that when his gentiles turned to the God of Israel, this was a sign of the last days (an element of the prophetic tradition concerning the final intervention by God). As "Apostle to the Gentiles," his role amidst this grouping was crucial to ushering in these final elements. In other words, the kingdom waits upon Paul's reaching as many gentiles as he can. One time that is achieved, then the Jews volition come across the light and join (Romans nine-eleven).
Expiry
Nosotros cannot confirm where or how Paul died. Paul's letter to the Romans is most likely one of his last surviving works in which he told his audience that he was going to Jerusalem for a visit and and so would come to Rome to see them (with plans to continue on to Spain). Luke told the story of Paul's arrest in Jerusalem, where he (as a Roman denizen) had the correct to appeal to the Roman emperor. The Book of Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome, continuing his preaching. It is just in later, 2nd-century CE, narratives that we find legendary textile of Paul'due south trial in Rome (with alleged messages between Paul and the Stoic philosopher, Seneca). Subsequently confidence, he was beheaded and his body buried outside the walls of the metropolis, on the road to Ostia, and then that his grave would non become a shrine. Years after, this site would become the electric current basilica in Rome, St. Paul's, Outside-the-Walls, and the Vatican has always claimed that his body rests in a sarcophagus inside the church.
This article has been reviewed for accurateness, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/Paul_the_Apostle/
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