12. Paul the Person

Paul was born some time about 4 to 3 BC and died in AD 64-65. He was converted for Christ halfway through his life in about AD 32, hence he had 32 or 33 years of ministry. The life of Paul as we know it from the records covers a span of some sixteen years; the rest is silence. He did not keep a diary and was not interested in passing on details about his travels, most of the delights and difficulties he faced, or the statistical results of his missionary endeavours.

How unlike a contemporary evangelist or missionary!

Nothing is recorded of Paul’s normal methods of ministry when he stayed in one place. For example, when he spent about three years in Ephesus, we know he spent three months preaching in the synagogues and two years lecturing in the hall of Tyrannus and that he made a visit to Corinth, but of his style of ministry in such a settled pastorate we know nothing at all.

However, when Luke was with Paul, there is more information. The ‘we’ passages written by Luke as a personal record in Acts cover a number of important places during his missionary journeys: from Troas to Philippi on the second tour; from Philippi to Miletus on the third missionary journey; from Miletus to Jerusalem; from Caesarea to Rome. These passages are vivid and trustworthy in their detail.

The speeches of Paul in the Acts of the Apostles were handed down to Luke by either Paul himself or by some others who were there and who kept a record of them. Luke seems to be present only at the speech at Miletus. The others speeches, probably a summary from Paul, seem to lack the emphasis that Paul would have made on the death of Christ upon the cross and its effects, and the coming judgment of God.

However, the epistles and the Acts of the Apostles provide us with enough evidence to indicate that Paul lived the complete life.

Paul’s life ‘in Christ’

Paul was not married during his Christian life, although an earlier marriage is possible. Some would claim that because he lacked both wife and children, of necessity he did not know what is was to live a complete life. Yet Paul made it very clear that his constant attention to the church was similar to responsibility to a wife, and his care for young Timothy and Titus and others who became preachers of the gospel was like that of a father to a son.

Paul certainly lived as full a life as any of whom we have record. While his personal appearance and specialist skills as an orator apparently caused some people to feel that he was in no way outstanding, and although he suffered throughout all of his life with a debilitating ailment or illness which limited him, Paul made the most of every opportunity he had and didn’t allow personal weakness to hamper him. To follow any of the thousands of miles he walked through very rugged terrain is to capture a vision of the resoluteness and determination of will that constantly pushed him onward.

An example of this strength of purpose can be seen at the time when crowds of people attacked Paul in Lystra:

They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead. But when the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he and Barnabas went on to Derbe. Paul and Barnabas preached the good news in Derbe and won many disciples. 1

Only a remarkable person could continue under those circumstances.

The key to Paul’s strength of purpose was that his life was ‘in Christ’. Although Paul used a number of terms to describe Jesus – Christ, Son of God, Lord, Messiah, Second Adam – it was ‘in Christ’ that was his favourite description of his relationship with the Lord. It was this oneness that he had with Christ that enabled him to endure so much.

Paul’s training

Paul was a Jew by race and by religion, and was always proud of belonging to God’s people. He was a ‘Hebrew of the Hebrews’, spoke Hebrew, and constantly spoke of the Law, of righteousness, of the promises made by God, and of the coming judgment.

Yet he was a Jew of the Diaspora, a Hellenist Jew, who was influenced by Greek culture. He wrote Greek, read the Old Testament in Greek, and felt at home in the Greek world of sophisticated philosophy and argument. His birthplace was at the centre of a large Greek university.

He was also a Roman citizen, the son of a Roman citizen, and he used the Roman law, the Roman roads and the Roman peace to take the gospel throughout the known world. He was at home relating to Roman soldiers, guards and governors, and was happy living and working in the cities, in courts and with the military.

But Paul was also Christian, and that meant that he was one of the new people of God who were not differentiated because of their race or sex or language or economic or social conditions.

Paul’s achievements

God in his wisdom used Paul’s rich and varied background to achieve his divine purposes.

His first achievement for God was the taking of Christianity from the east to the west. In doing this, he visited major cities one after the other and left behind established groups of believers often under the leadership of one of his young ministers who travelled with him. The influence of his ministry in the west, therefore, was permanent.

Paul became the driving force of evangelism in the early church. Although Peter helped spread the faith in taking the message to Caesarea and then later eventually to Rome, and others like Philip and his four daughters were quick to respond to the evangelistic ministry of the church, it was Paul more than any who carried out the great commission of Jesus to take the gospel into the known world. His example not only inspired other first century Christians to continue to proclaim the gospel to all men everywhere, but has ever since been the focal point in every renewal of evangelism.

Paul was the first great theologian of the Christian church. Although not a systematic theologian in the style of Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, or Karl Barth, Paul laid the foundation upon which all other theologians have worked. He emphasised that no one could save himself and his emphasis is needed in a secular world where men pride themselves on personal competence. Paul developed the concepts of adoption into the family of God which he had borrowed from the human family; the concept of our emancipation from the bondage of sin, which he took from slavery; the concept of propitiation, from the idea of sacrifice; and the concept of reconciliation from the idea of friendship. But Paul’s great contribution to theological understanding was his emphasis upon justification, a theme he developed from the law courts. This became the keystone to Paul’s theological understanding. No one is made righteous before God by his own efforts but we are justified by faith through God’s grace. God in his mercy treats us as righteous, not imputing to us the guilt that is due to us, but instead treating us as acceptable and sinless because we are received before him in Christ. Only God’s mercy and grace enables this.

In every generation since, whenever these theological terms of the apostle have been studied, there has been a fresh outburst of vitality within the church as people have understood the nature of salvation.

Paul changed Christianity from a Jewish sect to a world movement. Paul was a citizen of the world and he took the gospel into the secular cities of the empire and from there it became a world movement.

Paul’s extensive influence

Paul’s achievements have been due in part to the extent of his travels in proclaiming the gospel. First, in the seventeen silent years after his conversion he travelled throughout Syria, back to Damascus and Jerusalem to Caesarea and Cilicia. Congregations of the believers were established during these visits. Second, he travelled throughout Turkey and Cyprus on what is called the first missionary journey, establishing churches and revisiting those he had visited before. Third, he took the gospel message back through Turkey and into Europe, travelling through Macedonia and Greece once more establishing congregations of the faithful in what is called the second missionary journey. Fourth, his missionary journeys took him through the Aegean Sea and Greece visiting earlier established congregations and establishing new ones on his third missionary journey. Fifth, he took a long trip throughout Israel, Cyprus, Malta, Italy and on to Rome. In spite of the severe handicaps on this journey, the shipwreck and the problems of being always under guard, Paul continued to witness to his faith, establishing believers wherever he stayed. Sixth, his final visits are the unknown ones made between the years AD 61 and 65. Tradition has it that he visited Spain, Crete, Macedonia and Achaia.

Another reason for his achieving so much has been the quality of his writings. His epistles were sent where he could not go himself. Paul may have written many letters of which about a dozen survive. The reason they survive is that right from the time of reception they were regarded as special, as having the authority of the apostle to the Gentiles and being valuable for spiritual growth. They were possibly copied into a codex in Ephesus in the second century and circulated around all the churches. Certainly they were widely known by AD 150 and were already accepted as significant documents under the inspiration of God.

His influence on movements in the history of the church has been considerable. Many of the greatest of the church’s theologians, evangelists and leaders have been converted and inspired through Paul’s writings. St Augustine was converted through the reading of Romans 13. Thomas Aquinas wrote his great commentaries specialising in Paul’s theology. Martin Luther was converted and brought to profound insight on the nature of our justification by faith while pondering Romans 1. John Wesley was converted on 24 May, 1738, in Aldersgate Street, London, while reading Luther’s preface to his commentary on Paul’s epistle to the Romans. Immediately after World War I Karl Barth, one of the most potent theological forces of the twentieth century, published his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.

Whenever Paul has been rediscovered and his writings read afresh there has been a new outbreak of evangelism and witness to the faith in Christ.

Paul’s constant themes

It is believed that where men and women of faith make the same emphases today as Paul did, God still blesses them with growth in their personal lives and in their witness to Christ.

(a) The grace of God

Paul knew that he had sinned greatly, had resisted God’s grace and opposed the Lord Jesus Christ. ‘But God was merciful to me because I did not yet have faith and so did not know what I was doing.’ 2 Paul was conscious of that overwhelming sense of the mercy of God which accepted him as he was in his sinfulness, redeemed him and forgave him, appointed him as apostle of the faith that he had once persecuted, and commissioned him to take that message to the Gentiles.

Paul recognised that God’s grace enabled us to be his sons not his slaves. The grace of God redeemed us and enabled us to serve him. In Romans Paul discusses the relationship between God’s grace and the elect, those who are chosen for salvation, and the non-elect, those who are not so chosen. He discusses it in relation to the choice of Jacob and the rejection of Esau. We might well ask at what point is an individual ultimately responsible? 3

Paul makes the point in Ephesians that God has chosen the elect not on the basis of any worth within them, or any achievement that they have accomplished, but solely according to his grace through their faith. 4 God’s mercy is such that he chooses to save those who believe in Christ.

The grace of God is seen at work in the conflict within Paul which is given exposure in Romans 7, a conflict that we all face:

I do not understand what I do; for I don’t do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. Since what I do is what I don’t want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the sin that lives in me. I know that good does not live in me – that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. I don’t do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. If I do what I don’t want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me… What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! 5

That internal conflict within Paul could only be answered by God’s mercy and grace. Through God’s grace he had an inner peace through being rescued by the Lord Jesus Christ.

(b) The preaching of the gospel

One of the main themes in Paul’s ministry was his desire to fulfil God’s purpose of preaching the gospel. Frequently he said similar things to the following: ‘I have no right to boast just because I preach the gospel. After all, I am under orders to do so. And how terrible it would be for me if I did not preach the gospel!’ 6

Paul believed that people by nature posses an inner moral law, an awareness of the difference between right and wrong that makes them morally responsible before God. They understand fundamental principles of behaviour and morality. They will be judged by how they have measured up to their own standards according to the light that God has given them. However, sin so influences the lives of people that there are none of us that can stand innocent before God. Even those people without the Jewish Law which clearly defines sin, and consequently both Jew and Gentile are accountable before God and will come under judgment. Consequently there is an inescapable missionary imperative to take the message of God to all those who would perish outside of the gospel. Paul felt the burden of the lost heavy upon his heart and he was anxious to take the good news of Jesus to every creature.

(c) The significance of weakness

Paul had great gifts of administration, outstanding organising ability and gifts of thought and speech, but these great talents and gifts could have easily led him into becoming a person who was full of self-confidence and who spent his every effort building his own private kingdom. Paul was saved from that by what he called his ‘thorn in the flesh’. That physical weakness, illness or disability stopped him from being self-confident and self-reliant and instead made him depend in his weakness all the more upon God’s strength. It became a unique aspect of Paul’s life that out of weakness he found increased strength. As he said, ‘…to keep me from being puffed up with pride because of the many wonderful things I saw, I was given a painful physical ailment, which acts as Satan’s messenger to beat and keep me from being proud.’ 7 That particular ‘painful physical ailment’, the nature of which we do not know, was a persistent problem which prayer failed to remove. However, that weakness became a strength:

Three times I prayed to the Lord about this and asked him to take it away. But his answer was: ‘My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.’ I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me. I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 8

It is impossible to understand the nature of Paul’s tremendous achievement without acknowledging the significance of weakness within his life.

Paul saw this paradox as one of the great insights in God’s relationship with men. The cross itself was paradoxical, for what was the sign of rejection with men was the sign of acceptance with God. The cross was evidence of futility, but because of God’s grace it became the great symbol of man’s future. What was the sign of guilt became the emblem of innocence. What was man’s greatest folly was in reality part of the wisdom of God. What was an emblem of sin became the means of forgiveness. Jesus was the stone rejected by the builders, whom God in his grace made the cornerstone of a new temple.

Out of Paul’s own experience, and the example of what happened on the cross of Calvary, Paul came to an understanding of how God works through human weakness to achieve his purposes.

(d) The love of people

Paul could become angry with those who were hurting the cause of Christ, yet overriding this was his compassion and love for people. Paul had compassion for those who had been redeemed. He had compassion for those who were yet outside the faith. He even had compassion for those who were opposing the faith.

Paul found it possible to so love others that love became the basic motive in all that he did. For them he was willing to abase himself rather than offend a brother, and went without wife and family in order to be free to serve others. As already mentioned, that love for people could be seen in the very generous way Paul spoke about those who served with him. It extended to all races and social and economic conditions, and no one was outside his circle of care: ‘so we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn everyone and teach them in order to bring each one into God’s presence as mature individual in union with Christ.’ 9

(e) The future hope

One of the dominant themes in all that Paul wrote and spoke about was his hope in the future. He was confident because he was ‘in Christ’ and was caught up with the cosmic victory of Christ. Each individual Christian was not on his own in the struggle of life, but was incorporated into the cosmic Christ to whom God had given the victory. There was nothing now in all creation that ‘will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.’ 11 Paul knew the victory was already assured and that because Christians were incorporated ‘in Christ’ they were already sharing that victory.

(f) The living Christ

The meeting with the resurrected Christ on the Damascus road was the most momentous event in the life of Paul. To actually meet him whom he knew to be crucified and to hear his voice coming from the blinding light saying ‘I am Jesus’ 11 made such a profound impact that his life was completely turned around. To him Christ was the living head of the church, and believers had a part to play as they functioned as his body taking his message into the world. He referred to the church as the body of Christ, the community of saints, brethren together and the true Israel. The believers are the divine gathering of the future already established here on earth. Christ is so intimately involved in the church that its suffering becomes his own and in a mysterious sense completes his own suffering.

(g) The transformed life

Paul’s idea of the transformed life is that we live no longer according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Paul knew what it was to experience the ecstasy of the presence and the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. He claimed to have a number of gifts of the Holy Spirit including apostleship, prophecy, the ability to speak in tongues, healing and teaching. Paul mentions approximately twenty gifts from the Holy Spirit to enable the believer to witness and praise more effectively. These spiritual gifts were special abilities given by God to Christians. There were some similarities between spiritual gifts and natural talents as both come from God and may be used for godly purposes. But the Christian may also possess a distinctive gift from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also gave graces, or ‘the fruit of the Spirit’. Paul lists these qualities of character that Christians should develop when we live by the Spirit.

The Christian is to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit and to evidence the fruit of he Holy Spirit. Already each Christian has been given both gifts and graces but yet we must strive to develop them within us. The Christian already is a new-born person, but he must strive to become what he already is.

Paul’s significance today

How can we adequately assess that contemporary significance of Paul? His theology is basic to all that is Christian. His life has inspired generations. His example of a life turned round and thoroughly committed to Jesus Christ has inspired men and women to give themselves into the service of the Master. His journeys and epistles have been the means whereby we have understood how the church has grown, and what it is that we believe. Paul looked into the depths of man’s condition and explained how God in his grace and mercy reached into our depths of sin and restored and renewed us.

In other centuries men have been inclined to scoff at the writings of Paul as a narrow-minded fanatical Jew who took the beautiful, simple, clear, homespun philosophies of Jesus and turned them into a religion about Jesus. However, people today do not make that distinction, for scholars will not allow that slur to be made.

In twentieth-century secularism, there is a need for self-confident and self-satisfied people to really understand their true nature and to discover the resources and salvation from God. The terms Paul uses do not belong to the ancient world, but reach across the centuries and touch the deepest needs of people. We might become smug as our communication satellites circle the universe and our computers make calculations faster than the mind can think, but we still do not know how to handle our own guilt or to relate to those we love. To our deepest and most permanent need, the word of God through the apostle Paul speaks clearly.

The early church gave their verdict on the life of the apostle Paul when his epistles – ordinary letters written to ordinary Christians in ordinary cities about ordinary problems – were collected and circulated by them and immediately regarded as being inspired by God. In all of history, Paul is second in the story of the church only to his Master. He is the outstanding ambassador for Christ. He still stands high above the others, pointing always to Jesus Christ.

Endnotes:

1. Acts 14:20-21
2. 1 Timothy 1:13
3. Romans 9:10-18
4. Ephesians 2:8-9
5. Romans 7:15-25
6. 1 Corinthians 9:16
7. 2 Corinthians 12:7
8. 2 Corinthians 12:8-18
9. Colossians 1:28
10. Romans 8:39
11. Acts 22:8

For personal reading

Theme: Faithfulness to Christ

Monday : Spiritual struggle (Romans 7:13-25)
Tuesday : Christian ethics (Romans 12:2-13)
Wednesday : Warning against worldly contention (2 Corinthians 10:1-6)
Thursday : The weak made strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
Friday : Travelling with the gospel (2 Corinthians 8:16-24)
Saturday : To live in Christ (Philippians 1:15-16)
Sunday : Suffering for Christ (Romans 5:1-11)

For group reading

Topic: Being complete in Christ

1. What is most important to you in life?

2. Do you have a personal and meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ? What did Paul mean when he emphasised a personal life ‘in Christ’?

3. People felt Paul’s tremendous influence by his visits, speeches and writings. In what ways are you an influence for good on others?

4. ‘While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.’ What can God’s grace and mercy mean to us?

5. In what ways do you cope with weakness and suffering? Can God make any difference?

6. How can we discover our own God-given gifts and graces?

7. What have you discovered about Paul, his life, and his ministry?

Thursday, 23rd July, 2009, 3:09 pm | Bible Studies