But Paul shows us that when it's all said and done, the only thing that matters is our relationship with God and that He is number one in our lives. The Book of Acts and Paul’s own letters provide an account of how this dramatic change happened. 5. Some, like the centurion in Acts 22:28, had to pay a lot of money to have it. Paul leveraged his Roman citizenship to demand Caesar himself hear his case (Acts 25:11), and procurator has no choice but to grant him this right. Please try your request again later. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. But Paul recognizes that he still has room for growth and doesn't let pride consume him. The importance of quiet time. Acts records three missionary journeys that took Paul throughout Asia Minor, Cyprus, Greece, Macedonia, and Syria. It's pretty clear that Paul had a very dark and wicked past, but he didn't let that define him. The Acts of Paul. After several days, people began planning to kill him, and they watched the city gates day and night. An apocryphal work from the second century known as The Acts of Paul says that Nero had Paul decapitated. There are enough biblical and historical hints floating around to allow us to reconstruct some of what happened next. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.” —Galatians 2:6–9. As a leader in the Jewish community, Paul saw the rapidly spreading Christian community as a threat, and he directly contributed to the persecution early Christians faced. His followers smuggled him in and out of the city in a basket (Acts 9:23–25). The father of church history, Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–339 AD) noted that “some have rejected the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying that it is disputed by the church of Rome, on the ground that it was not written by Paul” (Church History). God knows we are imperfect people, so He will love us regardless, and nothing that we can do will ever change that. After encouraging them, he boarded a ship and returned to Jerusalem, even after numerous Christians warned him not to go there. For example, in 2 Timothy (believed to have been written shortly before his death) he appears to reference a recent trip to Troas (2 Timothy 4:13), which would’ve been impossible if he’d already been imprisoned in Caesarea for more than two years before his house arrest in Rome. He tried to stop Christianity. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul appeals to the authority of eyewitness testimony, pointing out that Jesus appeared to many people including himself. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll explore the basics of what we know—and don’t know—about this important biblical figure. 4. The books attributed to him include: These books are actually letters—or epistles—which were written to churches Paul planted and people he presumably encountered on the missionary journeys we see in the Book of Acts. I appeal to Caesar!”, After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar. The overlap between Acts and Paul's letters is intriguing. The reality is that Saul was a Hebrew name and Paul was a Greek version of the same name. How to stand firm in Christ. The fact of the matter is that God cares about everyone. Acts 17:16 says, "While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols." During their time in Philippi, a spirit that possessed a local slave girl was bothering Paul, so he cast it out of her (Acts 16:18). This site uses cookies to analyze traffic and ensure you get the best experience. Standing firm means to resist the ways of this world. When he finally arrived, “Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him” (Acts 28:16). Paul is believed to have been beheaded—rather than thrown to the wild beasts or killed in some other inhumane way—because he was a Roman citizen. 11. It's impossible for us to be completely perfect, and that's why we need God in our lives. The book of Acts speaks of a state of affairs where Paul does appear to have a deliberate strategy but this is guided and, in some cases, overruled by the providence of God through the Holy Spirit. Something went wrong. The overlap between Acts and Paul's letters is intriguing. It's almost difficult for us to understand why God picked Paul of all people, but honestly that's what makes Paul so relatable to us. 10. In his letter to the Corinthians, first-century church father Clement of Rome said Paul “had gone to the extremity of the west,” which at the time presumably meant Spain. I was strongly encouraged to read this book by several friends who practice law, work for lawyers, or are in the law feild. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Mon 5 Jan 2009 09.44 GMT They were invited to come speak on the following Sabbath, and when they did, most of the city attended. Included in the journey is a mission to Spain, ministry on the island of Crete, ministry in Ephesus, stops at Miletus, Troas, various cities in Macedonia, Corinth, and probably Nicopolis. It is interested in him insofar as he is part of the story of the spread of the gospel. You may have heard something like “Saul the persecutor became Paul the persecuted.”. As a Pharisee, before his conversion to Christianity, Paul saw Christians (who were predominantly Jewish at the time) as a scourge against Judaism. That is where the book of Acts ends, but it is not the end of the story. So Paul and Barnabas parted ways: Barnabas took John Mark to Cyprus, and Paul took a man named Silas to Syria and Cilicia. From there, Paul and Barnabas went to Psidion Antioch, a city in the mountains of Turkey. This is the last we hear about Paul in the Book of Acts. . Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. He believed that Jesus was a mere man, and was therefore rightfully executed for claiming to be God. Paul goes on to say that “if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21). This status gave him special privileges, and in some cases saved him from abuse (Acts 22:25–29). Some scholars argue there was a fourth missionary journey as well. Others propose that Luke, who may have traveled with Paul, offered an accurate portrayal and that there is no actual disjunction between Acts and the letters. No. In a rush to reach Jerusalem, Paul bounced from Troas to Assos, Mitylene, Chios, and finally Miletus, where he asked the elders from Ephesus to meet him. We know from other sources that Paul was eventually martyred in Rome, but Acts doesn't tell us that. Today, it’s not really even up for debate. He was constantly trying to prove that the Gentiles didn’t need to adopt Jewish customs like circumcision in order to place their faith in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit. He does it out of conviction. Good works is the product of faith in Jesus Christ, and salvation is about a relationship with God. It can be tempting to think that if we mess up, that God won't love us anymore. The Apostle Paul is traditionally considered the author of 13 books of the New Testament. Still, scholars can’t be sure that Paul did make this fourth journey, as the primary sources for his other three journeys (Acts and the epistles) don’t give us an explicit account of it. Then he was imprisoned in Palestine for a couple years, transported under guard via ship to Rome (a journey that included a shipwreck on Malta), and spent a couple more years under house arrest in Rome. On the one hand, Acts paints a picture of Paul that coheres in many ways with his self-portraiture in the letters: he was a committed Jew who experienced a dramatic moment where he rethought Jesus’ role within Israel’s history; he continued practicing Judaism while preaching the saving message of Jesus; and, perhaps most importantly, he was appointed to bring the gospel of Jesus to Gentiles—which generated controversy among some early Christians, especially regarding how, and on what terms, Gentiles could join this new movement. Israel and Prophecy: Israel is still standing and prophecy is being fulfilled.    |    Donate, Todd Penner is the author of numerous essays on the Acts of the Apostles, including the book, https://www.bibleodyssey.org:443/en/people/related-articles/paul-and-acts, In Engaging Early Christian History: Reading Acts in the Second Century.

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