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CHAPTER 1
Called Through God's Grace
OUR HUMAN CONDITION
When someone comes along to challenge what we believe and what we do, we often respond by becoming more zealous for our views and ways.
ASSIGNMENT
We quickly review Paul's life, noting his passions, his strategies, his controversies. Because his letters flow out of his life and mission, notice bits of autobiography in the letters.
CONTEXT
Who
Paul
Where
The Roman Empire
When
AD 30-70
Condition of the Jewish People
The Jews are living in the time of Roman peace. They are merchants, artists, teachers, and workers. Due to the Diaspora, which was the settling of Jews outside of Palestine after the Babylonian Exile, Jews live all over the Roman Empire. Most speak Greek because of the years of Alexander the Great's rule and influence. There are synagogues throughout the Roman Empire but only one Temple in Jerusalem. Our focus begins after Pentecost. There is a group of Jews claiming Jesus Christ as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah.
Main Message
Paul strongly believes he was set apart at birth, was called by God through grace, and is to proclaim the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
PRAYER
Pray daily before study:
"Lord, teach me your way;
Prayer concerns for the week:
APOSTLE
Day 1 Acts 7:51–8:3; 9:1-31; Galatians 1:11-24 (stoning of Stephen, Saul's conversion)
Day 2 Acts 11:19-30; 12:24–14:28 (Paul and Barnabas in Asia Minor, preaching in Antioch of Pisidia, ministry in Iconium region)
Day 3 Acts 15–19; Galatians 2:1-10 (Jerusalem Council, Paul and Silas leave for Syria and Cilicia, Timothy goes through Asia Minor to Troas, Macedonian call, Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus)
Day 4 2 Corinthians 11:21-33; Acts 20–23 (suffering as an apostle, Greece, Ephesian elders, visit to Jerusalem, assaulted in the Temple, on trial in Jerusalem)
Day 5 Acts 24–28 (on trial in Caesarea, defense before Agrippa, sailing to Rome, storm and shipwreck, Malta and Rome)
Day 6 "The Word of the Lord" and "Marks of Obedient Community"
Day 7 Rest, pray, and attend class.
THE WORD OF THE LORD
He always used his Roman name, Paul. On the Damascus road, Jesus Christ spoke his Jewish name, Saul. This strange and marvelous man was both Jew and Roman. Paul was born in Tarsus of devout Jewish parents who were Roman citizens. They were Jews of the Diaspora, a part of the several million Greek-speaking Jews scattered in major cities all around the Mediterranean.
More than five hundred years had passed since the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Alexander's armies had reshaped the world. So had Caesar's. Now under Roman peace, the seas were secure from pirate ships and the roads were safe for travel. Jews as merchants, artisans, teachers, workers, and traders now lived all over the western world.
Antioch had a population of half a million people with about fifty thousand Jews. Alexandria, second in size only to Rome at its zenith, had a million people with a huge Jewish population, including such distinguished scholars as Philo and Aristobulus. Rome's Jewish quarter contained at least nine synagogues.
Paul's Early Life
Tarsus was "an important city" (Acts 21:39); in fact, during its golden age in the reign of Augustus (27 BC to AD 14), it excelled as an intellectual city. Located on the fertile eastern plain, ten miles north of the Mediterranean on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor, Tarsus became the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia. Schools, theater, and sports flourished in this commercial, educational, and administrative center. Stoic philosophers taught in Tarsus, including Zeno, the traditional founder of Stoicism.
So Paul grew up speaking Greek as his first language, studying the Septuagint — the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures — in his synagogue. (The Septuagint is a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek by Jewish scholars in Alexandria two centuries earlier.)
Paul learned a trade from his family, an important reality among Jewish families who generally had no land and were often required to move. He probably worked with leather, making tents for soldiers and shepherds. Paul took pride in his craft, pleased he could support himself while he taught and preached (1 Thessalonians 2:9).
Synagogues were all over Palestine, but the Temple was the focus of the national religion. Jews in the Diaspora studied Torah and prayed in synagogues. Different cultures produced different traditions; rabbis gave a variety of interpretations of Torah. In Jerusalem lived Sadducees, Pharisees, priests, and zealots, though the zealots were not necessarily centered there. The Essenes, of Dead Sea Scrolls fame, lived in seclusion, untouched by the world.
Paul was a young man when he went to Jerusalem to study (Acts 22:3), a fact that points both to dedication and to means.
His teacher was the renowned Gamaliel, known within Judaism as a great scholar and statesman. He emphasized the graciousness of God, compassion for the poor, and hope for peace. Paul, under Gamaliel, would have studied in Hebrew using the Hebrew text. They would have spoken Aramaic. He became a Pharisee, a lay scholar determined to keep Torah teachings in daily life as a constantly obedient and faithful Jew.
Why Paul held the coats of the angry Jewish leaders who stoned Stephen (Acts 7:58) we do not know. Nor do we know exactly why Paul sought to root out the Christian movement. In any event, he offered to travel for the priestly authorities (9:1-2), looking for Jewish Christians in Damascus.
Paul's Mission
Christians often speak of Paul's Damascus road experience as a conversion, and of course it was — a conversion of outlook, theological orientation, and focus, but not a conversion to another religion. Acts describes what happened; Paul does not. Paul wrote of it as a call, much like the call God gave to Isaiah or Jeremiah (Galatians 1:15-16). In the Christian church we focus on Paul's encounter with Jesus the Lord; but Paul, in both Luke's account in Acts and in his own letters, always emphasizes his call by Christ to be a missionary of the "good news."
What is your story of experiencing God's grace?
How does your experience of grace influence your drive and mission for life, or in other words, your call?
Paul was hurrying to search out Jewish "believers" when Jesus Christ spoke to him. The force came from outside. "The gospel I preached isn't human in origin. I didn't receive it or learn it from a human. It came through a revelation from Jesus Christ" (1:11-12). Paul says God set him apart from birth (1:15). Isaiah of the Exile (Second Isaiah) wrote,
"The Lord called me before my birth,
When "the word of the Lord" came to Jeremiah, God said,
"Before I created you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart" (Jeremiah 1:5).
The light from heaven (Acts 9:3) that was "brighter than the sun" (26:13) reminds us of Isaiah's experience in the Temple, surrounded by the brilliant holiness of God (Isaiah 6:1-4). Ezekiel saw "a great flashing fire, with brightness all around" (Ezekiel 1:4).
After being struck down and reprimanded by the Lord Jesus for harassing him, Paul is told to "get up! Stand on your feet!" (Acts 26:16). God had told Ezekiel, in effect, it was time to be God's courageous messenger, to "stand on your feet." Actually, God set him on his feet (Ezekiel 2:1-3).
What was happening? Each man was called to be a messenger, a spokesperson. Paul was called to be an "apostle," literally "one who is sent." Paul insists he was sent by Christ, not by a church, though in Acts 13:1-3, in response to the Spirit, he is authorized by the church.
Apostle
Jesus used the Hebrew name Saul. He did not change Saul's name, as he had Peter's. Rather Jesus created an apostle. God "called me through his grace ... so that I might preach about him to the Gentiles" (Galatians 1:15-16). Yes, Paul became a "slave" of Jesus Christ; yes, Paul experienced forgiveness and cleansing; yes, Paul received power and blessing of the Holy Spirit, and in that sense, was converted. But Paul always understood that what mattered most was that he was given a message; he was given a mission. He began almost every letter saying who he was. Consider Romans 1:1-2: "Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for God's good news. God promised this good news about his Son ahead of time through his prophets in the holy scriptures."
How is your call empowered by the Holy Spirit?
Paul's entire ministry was surrounded by a swirl of controversy. Was he surprised at the conflict he caused? Grieved. Disappointed. Wounded. Yes. But probably not surprised. He himself had persecuted Jewish Christians. Right after his baptism by Ananias in Damascus, he began to proclaim Jesus, saying, "He is God's Son" (Acts 9:20). Some Damascus Jews, unable to refute his message, plotted to kill him. But Paul's disciples lowered him in a basket through the Damascus wall to safety (9:25). Thus began a life of ministry filled with ridicule, beatings, imprisonments, narrow escapes, and finally martyrdom. Sometimes the Jews who refused the gospel got all the blame, but Paul's work offended nearly everyone.
In the Power of the Spirit
In Acts, Luke wants to make clear that Paul's mission had divine power. Many of the incidents he reports are intended to make that point. Paul's temporarily blinding a magician in Paphos on Cyprus (Acts 13:6-11) is one example. Watch for others.
Sailing to Asia Minor, Paul went into the interior to Antioch of Pisidia. Immediately he preached in the synagogue. His sermon (13:16-43) traced the saving work of God in Judaism, lifted up the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy, and quoted Psalm 2:7, Isaiah 55:3, Psalm 16:10, and Habakkuk 1:5 for authority. Acts uses this sermon as an example of Paul's preaching to the Jews. For Acts, the similarity between this sermon and Peter's preaching shows that Paul was in agreement with the Jerusalem church, not an innovator or a freelance preacher of a different gospel.
Conservative Jewish Christians came to Antioch in Syria from Jerusalem to insist that all new Gentile converts must be circumcised (Acts 15:1). After much debate and dissension, the church sent a delegation, including Paul, to Jerusalem. James the brother of Jesus made the definitive decision. James's decision, supported by the apostles and elders, was that the mission to the Gentiles should continue; but rudiments of bedrock Jewish teachings should be maintained: Gentiles should not eat meat sacrificed to idols, should not eat strangled animals or blood, and should abstain from sexual immorality (15:20). (Read Galatians 2:1-10; it tells the story somewhat differently. According to 2:10, they should remember the poor believers in Jerusalem, perhaps made poor by persecution.) Paul was ecstatic. With this mandate, he continued his ministry, never deviating from these guidelines. But the issue of circumcision and Jewish laws plagued him all his ministry and provided the focus for much of his correspondence.
Timothy Joins Paul
In Asia Minor, Paul found a young Christian named Timothy and asked him to help. Timothy's mother was Jewish; his father was Greek. He had not been circumcised. Whereas Paul insisted that Gentiles did not require circumcision after conversion, Timothy, a Jew, was different. He and Paul would offend the Jews even before they opened their mouths. Paul, trying to avoid needless controversy, had Timothy circumcised.
At Troas, on the coast near where ancient Troy had been, Paul had a vision of a man pleading with him to go to Greece. "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" (Acts 16:9). Paul's decision to go would take Christianity to Europe (the west) and delay Christianity's going to northern Asia (the east) for nearly one thousand years. Apparently Luke the physician joined the group going to Macedonia, for he used the word we in reporting the journey (16:10).
Acts uses the Athens sermon (17:22-31) as an example of Paul's preaching to the Gentile world. It is the counterpart of his preaching to the Jews in Acts 13. Paul held the philosophers' attention, referring to an altar to an unknown god, quoting Greek poets, and recalling Israel's history. Later at Corinth Paul said he did not come there with worldly wisdom, but in Athens he gave it all he had. The audience would have stayed with him if he had taught the immortality of the soul; but when he proclaimed that God had raised Jesus from the dead, they shook their heads and left (17:32). Few were converted.
Paul started churches in the vital trade city of Corinth, south of Athens, and in the Greco-Roman seaport of Ephesus on the west coast of Asia Minor. The plan was always the same — to teach first in the synagogue. He was rewarded by some conversions, much dissension, and persecution. Paul in his letters reminded people how hard he had tried to carry out the mission and how much opposition he had encountered. Traveling teachers called Paul and his gospel into question, creating problems in his churches after he has gone elsewhere.
Paul's greatest concern was for the fledgling churches he had founded. "I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches" (2 Corinthians 11:28, NRSV). But Paul went to Jerusalem in his later years rather than going back to Corinth, Philippi, or Ephesus to strengthen the churches there. He had collected an offering for the poor of Judea as agreed upon in Acts 11:27-30. For Paul personally to fulfill that holy promise, rather than to send a courier, must have been terribly important. It meant completing a sacred trust, even though he was not sure the offering would be accepted (Romans 15:28-32). Acceptance of the collection would symbolize the unity of the church. For Paul, as we shall see from his letters, that unity meant everything.
Last Trip to Jerusalem
When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, James and the elders heard his report of how God was working among the Gentiles, and they all praised God. But there was a problem: Jewish Christians said Paul was teaching Gentiles to forsake Moses and the Ten Commandments, to ridicule circumcision and Jewish traditions. So, at the leaders' suggestion, Paul agreed to pay the costs and participate in the Temple ritual with four pious Christian Jews who were completing a vow. That act would be a most holy, most pious Jewish act. Paul did it, but to no avail. Someone falsely accused him of taking an uncircumcised Gentile into the holy purification room in the Temple, and a riot broke loose.
Paul was arrested. He gave a powerful sermon in Hebrew to the crowd (Acts 22:1-21). He told a tribune of his Roman citizenship, was saved by a nephew (son of Paul's sister), and when forty men vowed not to eat or drink until they had killed him (23:12-22), the tribune surrounded Paul with nearly five hundred Roman soldiers and marched him to Caesarea. There he was in prison for over two years, on trial before Felix, then King Agrippa and Festus.
In Romans 15, Paul had indicated a desire to preach as far as Spain, symbol of the geographical limits of the world. He had always hoped to go to Rome, strengthen the church there, and then move on to Spain (Romans 15:23-28). Whether Paul used his appeal to Caesar to escape certain death or as a way to get to Rome, we do not know. We do know God used this final trip to allow Paul at least two years of teaching in the heart of the empire, the opportunity to encourage innumerable Christian missionaries and travelers, and the final act of "witness" — to be a martyr for his Savior in Rome, probably under Emperor Nero.
MARKS OF OBEDIENT COMMUNITY
As members of a called community, we are propelled by an inner assurance that God has put new life in us. We've been put right side up. We're not afraid. Our gift of grace drives us outward to tell others, even when we experience sacrifice or resistance. What gives you the inner confidence to share God's grace with others?
Occasionally a "Paul" emerges from our obedient community who burns with unusual passion.
What causes our fellowship to sometimes become complacent?
Why are newfound joy and fresh spiritual excitement sometimes a threat to other people?
Recall a time you shared God's grace and a life was influenced.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE
Some lessons on Paul will carry a suggestion for writing a letter, not necessarily to be sent, though it may be. The idea for each letter grows out of the week's study and offers a way for putting your thoughts and reflections into words. Here is one of those opportunities.
Letter: Write a letter to yourself reviewing your own call and reminding yourself of how the power of God has been at work in your life.
Mark of Obedient Community
The faithful community embraces its life-giving message with passion and hurries to take it to others.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Disciple Fast Track The Letters of Paul Study Manual"
by .
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