Transcript Introducing Paul - First Presbyterian Church LaGrange

Adult Education: Fall 2009
Introducing Paul
What Is Paul?
Paul tended to describe himself as a servant:
•“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1.1)
•Paul resisted veneration, for it would take away
from Jesus
•His ministry was one of planting and watering so
God could make things grow
Who has Paul become for us?
•Apostle to the Gentiles
•Witness to the exalted Christ
•Preacher of the gospel
•Great theologian
•Author of many letters
•Our pastoral mentor
•Inspiration for preachers
Yet…at the point when we really think we
understand Paul, he again confounds us
and stirs our hearts and minds…Paul
defies our caricatures of him.
What do we really have through which to
understand Paul?
•Luke’s “Readers Digest” account of Paul’s life
in Acts
•Several of Paul’s letters to churches
What don’t we have?
•Much understanding of the ancient
Mediterranean World that Paul inhabited
•Direct information about the situation in the
churches to which Paul wrote
How can we encounter Paul freshly?
•By treating his letters as windows into his world
rather than theological dogma
•By letting him speak for himself in his language
•By remembering that Paul’s life and work was
embedded in the concerns of his, not our world
Why Study Paul in the First Place?
•Paul was the towering force behind much of early
Christianity
•No follower of Jesus—until Augustine--shaped
our faith as deeply as did Paul
•His writings take up 24% of the New Testament
•Paul continues to be studied and appreciated
•Times of reformation and renewal have found
their catalyst in fresh encounters with Paul
•Ultimately, through Paul, we discover new depths
in God’s glory and his mission to our world
It was while studying
Paul’s words in
Romans 1.17 that
Martin Luther came
to a revolutionary
awareness that God’s
love for him was not
dependent on Luther’s
righteousness, but his
simple trust. This
discovery launched
the Protestant
Reformation in the
16th century.
We know Paul best through his epistles
which were letters he wrote to various
congregations around the ancient
Mediterranean world that were having
troubles.
It helps to remember that these letters
were written for us, but not to us.
Discuss briefly, how “for us but not to
us” affects our reading of Paul.
All of Paul’s letters were addressed to
specific circumstances that existed in
the daily lives of congregations and
individuals.
At times Paul encouraged congregations to
share his letters with other churches. One or
two of Paul’s letters were intended to be
circulated among several congregations.
Christians soon gathered Paul’s letters in a
group because they believed that Paul’s words
were God-inspired and had importance for
Christianity beyond the circumstances that they
originally addressed.
Five Images of Paul found in the New Testament:
1. persecutor
2. missionary
3. theologian
4. pastor
5. martyr
Persecutor
•Before his conversion, Paul was a militant Pharisee,
committed to the law of Moses and the purity of Israel
•Paul believed that salvation would come directly from God,
not a man
•Paul encouraged the public stoning of Stephen a young
believer in Christ
•Paul determined to eradicate the messianic sect that we
know as Christianity and he was willing to travel to
suppress Christians
•Small wonder early Christians were skeptical that he had
been converted to Christ
•Paul’s conversion was truly revolutionary for him and for
those around him
•For Paul to give up his position in Judaism was to give up
his inherited position of power and prestige
What does
Rembrandt
teach us about
persecution in
this painting?
Missionary
Paul doesn’t present a definition or theology of
personal mission, but several remarks, sprinkled
through his letters reveal his understanding that
his call to be an apostle was a call to mission
17For
Christ did not send me to baptize but
to proclaim the gospel, and not with
eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of
Christ might not be emptied of its power.
–I Corinthians 1.17
18All
this is from God, who reconciled us to
himself through Christ, and has given us the
ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ
God was reconciling the world to himself,*
not counting their trespasses against them,
and entrusting the message of reconciliation
to us. 20So we are ambassadors for Christ,
since God is making his appeal through us;
we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be
reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made
him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God.—
2 Corinthians 18-21
…We have received grace and apostleship
to bring about the obedience of faith
among all the Gentiles for the sake of his
name, 6including yourselves who are
called to belong to Jesus Christ…-Romans 1.5
Aspects of Paul’s Missionary Work
•Paul’s decision to focus toward the west and
evangelize towards Europe was very important
•Paul felt called to reach out to Gentiles (nonJews) and to include them in the heritage of
Israel
•Paul wants to break new ground in his work
and not build on someone else’s groundwork
•He strategizes so that his saving message may
reach as many people as possible
•Paul sees the Gospel to be first for Jews then for
Gentiles; accordingly, he tended to enter a city,
preach to Jews, and then move toward the Gentiles
•Paul spends considerable energies trying to foster
unity and mutual respect between Jewish converts
to Christ and Gentile converts to Christ
•Paul sees himself not as the only, but certainly the
main apostle to the Gentiles
•Paul hopes that the sight of Gentiles coming to
Christ will stimulate Jews to reconsider and become
believers
•In the mission to the Gentiles, Paul is forced to
think through deep implications of the Gospel
Mission is the mother of all theology
— Martin Kähler, theologian
Discussion Question: What does this
mean and how can it affect us?
Theologian
•Paul is greatest theologian of the first-century
church
•Paul’s theology has also been a battleground
•Paul reflects ideas from a variety of intellectual
backgrounds including: Hellenism, Cynicism,
Stoicism, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnosticism,
Rabbinic Judaism, Diaspora Judaism
The Most Likely Sources of Paul’s Ideas
•Jesus himself and the early church’s
understanding of the Gospel
•The Jewish Scriptures
•Paul’s reflection on the situations and problems
he found himself engaged with
The core or essence of Paul’s theology is
difficult to pin down to one or two ideas.
One reason for this is because his letters
all address a variety of local situations.
Scot McKnight’s Seven Principles in Paul’s Thought
1. The gospel is God’s grace in Jesus for everyone who
believes
2. Everyone stands behind one or the twin heads of
humanity, Adam and Christ
3. Jesus is the center stage and participation in him
transfers one from the Adam line to the Christ line
4. The church is the body of Christ on earth
5. The history of God’s mission to the world begins
not with Moses, but Abraham, and finds its
culmination with Jesus Christ
6. Christian behavior is Spirit-driven, not rules-driven
7. Paul is an apostle, not a philosopher or theologian
Pastor
What we have of Paul’s work—his letters—are
evidence of his work exhorting, encouraging, and
admonishing
Paul is a church planter and his pastoral heart is
an outworking of his gospel ministry
He longs to be personally present with his people
Martyr
•Paul’s experience of persecution and hardship
influence his view of ministry and the faith
•Paul sees his own sufferings and the sufferings of
other as the overflow of Christ’s sufferings
•Paul sees his suffering and imprisonment and
hardships, not as impediments to the advance of
the gospel, but as means that God uses to win
converts
•Legend has it that Paul was beheaded in Rome
Final thought:
Paul dares to defy an empire by claiming that the
judgment seat is occupied by Jesus Christ, not
Caesar; that the answer to human peril is not
subjugation to Rome, but faith in Jesus. Paul
never forgets that he was saved by the God whom
he opposed by persecution. And Paul dedicated
his life to extending the grace he experienced on
the Damascus Road to as many people as possible.