The Apostle Paul

1
The Apostle Paul

• More than any other individual, Paul is
  responsible for the future universality of the
  Christian church.

2
We know about Paul from two sources

• Acts
• Focuses on the spread of the New Way
• Emphasizes harmony and agreement
• Paul is one of the players in the huge drama
• Pauls letters (epistles)
• Focuses on teachings about faith in Christ
• Emphasizes truth as he sees it
• Actively defends himself and his right to be an
  apostle.

3
Pauls first missionary journey

• Acts 13-14
• With Barnabas.
• Started and ended at Antioch
• Successfully evangelized God-fearing Gentiles
  who attend synagogues in Asia Minor (now Turkey)
• Lame man healed in Lystra
• Paul and Barnabas called gods. Later stoned.
• Interrupted over issue of whether Gentile
  converts should follow Mosaic law, especially
  circumcision and dietary laws.

4
The Jerusalem conference

• Acts 15
• The first church council
• Must a Gentile convert to Christianity first
  become a Jew?
• Christian Pharisees wanted all Christians to keep
  all the Jewish law
• Peter opposed this citing his experience with
  Cornelius and silences the others (Acts 157-11)
• Gal 21-14 seems offers a different perspective
  from Pauls viewpoint.

5
The Jerusalem conference

• 15Then certain individuals came down from Judea
  and were teaching the brothers, Unless you are
  circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you
  cannot be saved. 2And after Paul and Barnabas
  had no small dissension and debate with them,
  Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were
  appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this
  question with the apostles and the elders. 3So
  they were sent on their way by the church, and as
  they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria,
  they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and
  brought great joy to all the believers. 4When
  they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the
  church and the apostles and the elders, and they
  reported all that God had done with them. 5But
  some believers who belonged to the sect of the
  Pharisees stood up and said, It is necessary for
  them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the
  law of Moses.
• 6 The apostles and the elders met together to
  consider this matter. 7After there had been much
  debate, Peter stood up and said to them, My
  brothers, you know that in the early days God
  made a choice among you, that I should be the one
  through whom the Gentiles would hear the message
  of the good news and become believers. 8And God,
  who knows the human heart, testified to them by
  giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to
  us 9and in cleansing their hearts by faith he
  has made no distinction between them and us.
  10Now therefore why are you putting God to the
  test by placing on the neck of the disciples a
  yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been
  able to bear? 11On the contrary, we believe that
  we will be saved through the grace of the Lord
  Jesus, just as they will.

6
The Jerusalem conference

• 12 The whole assembly kept silence, and listened
  to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the
  signs and wonders that God had done through them
  among the Gentiles.
• 13After they finished speaking, James replied,
  My brothers, listen to me. 14Simeon has related
  how God first looked favourably on the Gentiles,
  to take from among them a people for his name.
  15This agrees with the words of the prophets, as
  it is written, 16 After this I will return,and
  I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has
  fallen   from its ruins I will rebuild
  it,     and I will set it up, 17 so that all
  other peoples may seek the Lord   even all the
  Gentiles over whom my name has been
  called.     Thus says the Lord, who has been
  making these things 18known from long ago.
  19Therefore I have reached the decision that we
  should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning
  to God, 20but we should write to them to abstain
  only from things polluted by idols and from
  fornication and from whatever has been strangled
  and from blood. 21For in every city, for
  generations past, Moses has had those who
  proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every
  Sabbath in the synagogues.

7
Paul has a different perspective

• Galatians 26-14
• 6And from those who were supposed to be
  acknowledged leaders (what they actually were
  makes no difference to me God shows no
  partiality)those leaders contributed nothing to
  me. 7On the contrary, when they saw that I had
  been entrusted with the gospel for the
  uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted
  with the gospel for the circumcised 8(for he who
  worked through Peter making him an apostle to the
  circumcised also worked through me in sending me
  to the Gentiles), 9and when James and Cephas and
  John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized
  the grace that had been given to me, they gave to
  Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship,
  agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and
  they to the circumcised. 10They asked only one
  thing, that we remember the poor, which was
  actually what I was eager to do.
• Paul Rebukes Peter at Antioch
• 11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him
  to his face, because he stood self-condemned
  12for until certain people came from James, he
  used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they
  came, he drew back and kept himself separate for
  fear of the circumcision faction. 13And the other
  Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even
  Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14But
  when I saw that they were not acting consistently
  with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas
  before them all, If you, though a Jew, live like
  a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel
  the Gentiles to live like Jews?

8
Pauls second missionary journey

• Acts 16-18
• With Silas Timothy
• Barnabas and Paul separate over issue of John
  Mark.
• In Gal 213, Barnabas followed the circumcision
  camp.)
• First to Asia minor.
• A Macedonia calls them to Greece.
• Lydia and her household convert (her home becomes
  the church center in Thyatira)
• There is a greater Gentile population
• Paul preaches in Athens, the center of Greek
  philosophy
• Greater success in Corinth. Paul later writes
  some of his most vivid letters to this church.

9
Paul's third missionary journey

• Acts 18-21
• Paul becomes more resolute and believes it is the
  end of his time
• Reflects Jesus final trip to Jerusalem.
• The trips climax is in Ephesus and the feud with
  the Greek silversmiths.
• Paul sets his face toward Jerusalem
• Acts 2022-23 And now, as a captive to the
  Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing
  what will happen to me there, except that the
  Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that
  imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.

10
Diana (Artemis) of the Ephesians
11
Paul in Jerusalem

• Ch 21 Paul is accused of blasphemy and profaning
  the Temple. Roman soldiers protect Paul from the
  mob.
• Ch 22 Paul Defends himself to the Jews from the
  Temple steps. When he says that God sent him to
  preach to the Gentiles, the Jews become irate.
• Ch 23 Paul speaks before the council (Sanhedrin)
  and splits the Pharisees and Sadducees over the
  issue of resurrection from the dead.
• The divine plan is revealed that Paul must go to
  Rome to preach there (2311) .
• Ch 24 Paul speaks before Felix. He is sent to
  Caesarea and kept under house arrest by the Roman
  governor Antonius Felix for two years.
• Ch 25 Festus becomes the new governor and Paul
  appeals to Caesar through him (258-12)
• Ch 26 Paul speaks before Herod Agrippa II. Paul
  gives a long defense proving his is not guilty of
  any political crime. Christianity has a friendly
  relationship with Rome.
• Agrippa and Festus agree that Paul could be set
  free if he had not appealed to Caesar.
• Luke makes it clear that Paul is only prosecuted
  in Rome because of a misunderstanding.

12
Journey to Rome

• Acts 27-28
• Long sea voyage and shipwreck where Paul saves
  the crew.
• Paul bitten by a serpent
• Awaiting trial and with full knowledge of his
  captors, Paul continues to evangelize in Rome.

13
Paul in Prison