Paul of Tarsus

Paul of Tarsus Outline the contribution of one significant person or school of thought other than Jesus and assess the impact of this person or school of thought on Christianity. What does this mean? Outline = sketch in general terms

Background  Born a Jew, in Tarsus in Cilicia – a Roman citizen  Grew up and educated in the Hellenised world of Jerusalem, student of Rabbi Gamaliel  Conversion experience, Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9 : 3–9)  More than one quarter of the books in the new Testament in the Christian Bible are epistles or letters written by Paul or Saul as he was formerly known.  Established Christianity from Antioch to Rome Describe Paul’s early missionary work Contributions to Christianity Much influence arose out of his missionary journeys. Three journeys documented: 1. 46-48CE Antioch , Cyprus and Southern Galatia(modern Turkey) 2. 49-52CE Galatia but further west to Achaia and Macedonia(Greece), including Ephesus, Corinth and Athens. 3. 53-57 CE Southern Galatia, Asia Minor and Greece. Paul was taken to Rome as a prisoner after his third journey.

Identify two legacies of Paul’s early missionary work

 Paul established local churches, appoint groups of elders to run the churches after he left, (Acts14:14-23). He then supported them by writing letters, further visits and by sending others. For example Timothy, on his behalf and in this way Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire.  It was at Antioch that the term Christians began to be used. This was used as a base for his missionary journeys and an important base for his gentile mission. This sect began to develop its own separate Gentile identity. He was able to help this sect achieve this separate identity by transferring the focus of study from the Torah to simply believing in Jesus Christ and by removing the pre- requisite of circumcision Outline Paul’s influence on the development of the New Testament

 Paul was the first writer to compound the beliefs of Christianity through his teaching and writing. He took the teachings of Jesus and he explained them and applied them to new situations that arose in the early churches. In this way Christianity

 began to develop into a fully-fledged new religion with a coherent set of beliefs and practices. Paul’s teachings were fully consistent with that of Jesus and the other disciples, but no other leader in the early church exerted the influence that he did, especially in the gentile ares of the Roman Empire.

 There were many Jewish converts to Christianity who wanted to retain elements of the Law of Moses ie (circumcision) but Paul maintained that the laws of the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus and not binding on Christians. This was a major issue in the churches he established in Galatia (Letters to the Galatians). The issue was finally settled in a conference at Jerusalem in which Paul played a significant part (Acts 15: 1-35). Paul did not want racial division between Jews and Gentiles in the churches that were established. List three teachings Paul contributed to the establishment of Christian Theology; Predestination, Justification by Faith and Grace

 The historical facts about Jesus’s death and resurrection were central to all Christian teaching (Cor15: 3-8), and demonstrate that Jesus is both Lord and Christ (Messiah. It is necessary to believe this in order to be saved.)  The purpose for Jesus’s death was to take the punishment for people’s sins. All humans are sinners and therefore deserve God’s punishment, but such was God’s love that he took human form and as Jesus, he took that punishment on himself.(Rom 5: 6- 11)Jesus is therefore the only sacrifice for sins, replacing the animal sacrifices of The Old Testament. He lived the perfect life that we could never live, and by believing in him we receive his righteousness, (perfection). In other words, when God looks at the Christian, he sees not the sin, but the righteousness of Christ. Christians are accepted by God(saved) not by good works or obeying Jewish Law, but by believing in Jesus. (Eph 2 :8-9). This is called by Paul as Justification by Faith. Salvation is always seen as a gift of God, a result of God’s grace and therefore something we can claim no credit for.

 Predestination is whereby believers have been called and chosen by God prior even to their conception, thus offering believers assurance of God as their Saviour Outline the controversy of Paul’s teachings:

 Many writers believe that Paul “invented” Christianity and that he steered it away from the teachings of Jesus. The concept of justification by faith is an example of this as it is rarely mentioned by Jesus and although Jesus did use the concept, it was not in relation to his own death- rather it was in relation to an individual’s attempt at self justification (Luke 15:16)  Arguments over exact nature of Justification also played major role in the Reformation. The view of the Catholic Church was that it was ongoing, people are born sinful but through Baptism, church attendance, communion, confession, and so on, believers are progressively justified. In contrast to this, Martin Luther care to argue that “This one and firm rock(justification) is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the understanding of all godliness’. Thus Protestant denominations came to see justification as instantaneously occurring the moment the believer first truly believes.