Apostle Paul the Theologian - Introduction

The Christian faith is a faith that is both simple and complex at the same time. The message of the cross, in its presentation of salvation by grace and through faith, is a simple enough message for all people. However, the implications of Calvary in relation to the biblical themes such as atonement, justification, sanctification and glorification and the like are definitely complex in nature.

This present Bible study endeavours to look at these themes from the eyes of the apostle Paul. What exactly was on the great apostles' mind when he wrote the 13 letters to the churches of his time? This is the question that we will seek to answer as we work through this study. One verse that captures the essence of how the apostle perceives the Christian faith is Gal 2:20:"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Apostle the Theologian

Lesson 1: The centrality of God in Christ

Lesson 2: Proclaiming God in Christ

Lesson 3: Suffering and the Pauline proclamation

Lesson 4: Dishonouring God

Lesson 5: The exaltation of Christ Jesus

Lesson 6: The righteousness of God

Lesson 7: The transforming grace of God

Lesson 8: Honouring God

Lesson 9: Persevering faith & the hope of glory 

Lesson 10: Agape love & the law In Paul

What was on the apostle Paul's mind when he wrote the 13 letters of the NT? Hebrew is not included because we are not sure who's the author.

Galatians 1:11-17

Paul Called by God

11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

Judaism  (verse 13)

Jewish faith and way of life developed during the period between OT and NT. Much of it is legalism and gave way to the biggest group, the Pharisees. The major sect to Judaism. Paul keeps emphasising that he received from Jesus Christ and not from man.

1. There is a strong emphasis that Paul says the 13 letters are a revelation from Jesus Christ. If you take all of the NT which has 14 other letters, our doctrine will be at best half baked if we do not have Paul's 13 letters. Revelations is on his second coming and the gospels are about Jesus on earth.
2. The apostle Paul was an expert of the OT. He is one of the top, the Pharisee of the Pharisees. He even persecuted the church and is competent in the law. He knew all Judaism tradition and law.

This is the background of Paul.

The interpretation of the Bible.

What was on Paul's mind

-> Pauline Letters <-

What is on our minds

When we read the bible we should not read it just from an academic view point but do not draw near to God. We are taught that we need the illumination of the Holy Spirit. But what does it mean to be illuminated or guided by the Holy Spirit? Some will tell you no need Bible study, or commentaries. You just read and the Holy Spirit will teach you. They may use verse 12 as defence, but what they forgot is they are not the apostle Paul. These people read the scriptures based on what's on their mind but not based on what was on Paul's mind.

Interpreting the Bible is not subjective. We must enter our study by looking at the Pauline letters through the eyes of Paul because he wrote them. This is the basic ground work. We must start with the author.

Many of these letters are written because of situational problems. He wrote to address certain problems at the church at that point of time.

Why do we have bible study? We already have preaching on Sunday. Or we have the Holy Spirit to teach us. One of the 5-fold ministry is teaching. You have to understand a little bit of church history.

Jesus at Calvary - AD30

Apostolic Era - AD100 (the first century church, early church or Apostolic church)

Church Fathers - AD400

Roman Catholic Church

Some thinks the true church is the early church. But we know from Paul's letters that they were no better than us. The early church was an infant church. There are the Jews and the gentiles, the Jew church and the gentile church. Some from the gentile background deals with different things. And they mix their believe.

Heresy

The Church Father's brought some of the doctrines that we have now and that's also when heretic teaching started. Paul was in the heat of all that turmoil. It is at those times that we see why Paul was exceptional in his teaching at that time. Heresy is when what we believe is distorted. Many of the Pauline letters addressed heresy.

Gnosticism

A believe system that sees the material world (matter) as evil. Secret knowledge or esoteric knowledge. It came from the gentiles.

Galatians - Galatians Heresy

Colossians - Colossians Heresy

1Timothy - Gnosticism

You may say these are old heresies so it is no longer valid? Is the church better today than those days? We may ask today if a church's teaching is okay or not? Then there could be heretic teachings but I think it's too strong a word. I use the dilution of the gospel or a distortion of the gospel. What is the difference between dilution and distortion?

A preacher that teaches financial prosperity as the primary blessings of God in Christ distorts the gospel.

A preacher that teaches grace without a proper understanding of the holiness of God dilutes the gospel.

What does Paul do in these situations like in the early church? Paul teaches. That's the difference between teaching and preaching. We need to ask if the apostle Paul teaches the prosperity gospel or hyper grace. These are also men of God and knows the Bible so where did they go wrong?

What is the CENTRE of Paul's thinking?

What is the foundational centre of Paul's writing? A person whose centre is his family, he will make his decision based on his family needs. A businessman whose centre is his business will make his decision based on his business. It's priority.

Some thinks Paul's centre are these. 

Justification (grace through faith)

Sanctification (pursuits of holiness in the spirit)

Blessing (physical blessings and promises)

If it's justification, grace becomes the foundation of your teaching. A gospel of grace. That is how hyper grace looks at Pauline's centre as grace. So the question is whether Pauline's teaching is centred on grace? Holiness become de-emphasised. Because grace supersede everything. If holiness is the centre, you will downplay grace and may move into some form of law. If your foundational thinking is material blessings, your gospel becomes prosperity gospel.

It is not for us to decide what is the centre of Paul's teaching. Or we may have the wrong centre.

GOD (who He is - Person of God) -> BLESSINGS (what He does - works/promises of God) -> US

Non of the biblical themes is the centre of his teaching. His blessings or promises is not the centre of his teaching. God himself is the centre of his teaching.

Are we exalting Christ or exploiting Christ? When Christ is lifted up, the church will prosper.