Editor’s note – On August 12-15, the Adult portion of vacation Bible school will study Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. Over the next three weeks we will look at Paul and a background to Galatians. This week we will look at a brief summary of Paul’s life and letters.
Paul never met Jesus but he claims to have seen him through subjective visionary experiences (Galatians 1:12, 16; 2:2; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10). Jesus died around 30D. Around A.D. 37, Paul reported his initial apparition of "Christ" whom he identified with Jesus raised from the dead The relationship of Jesus and Paul is explored in a new book Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity by James D. Tabor, a professor at UNC-Charlotte.
Tabor towards the end of his book, he lists what we know about Paul:
• “Paul calls himself a Hebrew or Israelite, stating that he was born a Jew and circumcised on the eighth day, of the Jewish tribe of Benjamin (Philippians 3:5-6; 2 Corinthians 11:22).
• "He was once a member of the sect of the Pharisees. He ad¬vanced in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries, being extremely zealous for the traditions of his Jewish faith (Philippians 3:5; Galatians 1:14). [He was born in Tarsus in what is today southernTurkey]
• “He zealously persecuted the Jesus movement (Galatians 1:13; Philippians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 15:9).
• “Sometime around A.D. 37 Paul had a visionary experience he describes as "seeing" Jesus and received from Jesus his gospel message as well as his call to be an apostle to the non-Jewish world (1 Corinthians 9:2; Galatians 1:11-2:2).
• “He made only three trips to Jerusalem in the period covered by his genuine letters; one three years after his apostolic call, when he met Peter and James but none of the other apostles (around A.D. 40); the second fourteen years after his call (A.D. 50), when he appeared formally before the entire Jerusalem leadership to account for his mission and gospel message to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:1-10); and a third, where he was ap¬parently arrested and sent under guard to Rome around A.D. 56 (Romans 15:25-29).
• “Paul claimed to experience many revelations from Jesus, in¬cluding direct voice communications, as well as an extraordi¬nary "ascent" into the highest level of heaven, entering paradise, where he saw and heard "things unutterable" (2 Corinthians 12:1-4).
• “He had some type of physical disability that he was convinced had been sent by Satan to afflict him, but allowed by Christ so that he would not be overly proud of his extraordinary revela¬tions (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
• “He claimed to have worked miraculous signs, wonders, and mighty works that verified his status as an apostle (2 Corinthians 12:12).
• “He was unmarried, at least during his career as an apostle (1 Corinthians 7:8, 15; 9:5; Philippians 3:8).
• “He experienced numerous occasions of physical persecution and deprivation including beatings, being stoned and left for dead, and shipwrecked (1 Corinthians 3:11-12; 2 Corinthians 11:23-27).
• “He worked as a manual laborer to support himself on his trav¬els (1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 9:6, 12,15).
• “He was imprisoned, probably in Rome, in the early 60s A.D. and refers to the possibility that he would be executed (Philippians 1:1-26).”
Paul’s writings occupy nearly ¼ of the New Testament. Of the 27 books, thirteen are letters attributed to Paul. To these add the book of Acts, in which Paul is the main character in sixteen of its twenty-eight chapters. Paul’s accomplishment was to bring Christianity to the Gentiles in more pure sense that did not include Jewish practices.
Letters associated with Paul with his name include seven letters that scholars believe were written by Paul
First Thessalonians (ca. 51 AD)
Philippians (ca. 52-54 AD)
Philemon (ca. 52-54 AD)
First Corinthians (ca. 53-54 AD)
Galatians (ca. 55 AD)
Second Corinthians (ca. 55-56 AD)
Romans (ca. 55-58 AD)
The six letters are questionable – Colossians, Ephesians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus. In Hebrews does not bear Paul’s name and most scholars agree was not written by Paul
Paul is known for his travels. Here is a timeline showing followed by Paul’s travels along with maps
How is this all relevant to today ? Circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses are no longer issues which face us today. The letters demonstrates the importance of taking a stand for the Gospel against those such as those who substitute their own beliefs for it. Secondly, Galatians reminds us of the importance understand the doctrine of justification by grace through faith which was revived by Luther in the Reformation. The book also reconnects us to God’s promises related through covenants and how this reaches the height with Jesus.