The apostle Paul

• Brief biographical sketch

  • Scriptural sources

    • Epistles

    • Acts

  • Historical and traditional sources

• Concise account of Paul’s conversion

  • Combine accounts in Acts

  • Additional accounts from Pauline epistles

• From Tarsus, raised in Jerusalem

  • Acts 21:37-22:3

• Roman citizen – Acts 22:25-29

• Schooled by Gamaliel – Acts 22:3

  • Probably grandson of Hillel the elder

  • Influential and revered Pharisee – Acts 5:34-40

• Tentmaker by trade – Acts 18:1-3; Romans 16:3-4

• Ardent persecutor of the church – Acts 7:58-8:1

  • Galatians 1:13-14 – Acts 22:4-5

  • Philippians 3:4-6

• Paul’s conversion

  • Acts 9:1-18

  • Acts 22:6-16

  • Acts 26:9-20

  • Consolidated account

• Paul’s selection as an apostle

  • Inherent in his conversion account

  • Reiterated in Paul’s writings

• Paul asserts his apostleship

  • Romans 11:13

  • I Corinthians 1:1; 9:1-2; 15:9

  • II Corinthians 1:1; 12:1-2

  • Galatians 1:1

  • Ephesians 1:1

  • Colossians 1:1

  • I Timothy 1:1; 2:7

  • II Timothy 1:1

  • Titus 1:1

• Initial activities after conversion

  • Acts 9:19-31

  • Galatians 1:11-24

• Paul joins with Barnabas to go to Antioch

  • Acts 11:19-30

• Commissioned by the Holy Spirit – Acts 13:1-4

• Begins first missionary journey

  • Acts 13:4-15:35 – Spring 44 to fall 46 AD

  • Begins and end at Antioch of Syria

• Second missionary journey

  • Acts 15:36-18:22 – Spring 49 to fall 52 AD

  • Begins and ends at Antioch of Syria

• Third missionary journey

  • Acts 18:23-21:17 – Fall of 52 to summer of 53 AD

  • Begins at Antioch of Syria and ends in Jerusalem

• Final journey in Acts

  • Started with appeal to Rome

  • Acts 27:1-28:16 – 60 to spring 63 AD

  • Released from prison

• After the book of Acts

  • Release from prison (which was post-Acts) 63 AD

  • Left Rome to be with Titus in Crete – Titus 1:5

  • Leaves Crete for Nicopolis – Titus 3:12

  • Probably goes from there to Spain – Romans 15:22-28

  • Possibly makes a trip to England (no scripture)

  • Back to Rome for imprisonment, eventual death

    • May or June of 68 AD

    • Beheaded under rule of Nero

How do we tell what is an authorized work of a local church?

• A local church is authorized to make provision for duties that:

  • … inhere because of one’s relationship in Christ and

  • … are authorized for Christians to do together

All our duties and responsibilities come out of relationships

• Civil government

• Economic

• Social/community

• Family/domestic

  • Proverbs 22:6; I Timothy 5:6; II Corinthians 12:14; Ephesians 6:1-8

• In Christ

  • James 5:13; Colossians 3:16; I Timothy 2:8; Acts 2:42; Matthew 26:26-29; III John 1:5-6; Romans 12:13; I Corinthians 16:1-2; Acts 4:34-35; Romans 16:17; I Corinthians 5:4-5

The local church is authorized to provide for:

• Worship

• Edification

• Evangelism

• Relief of needy saints

• Discipline

“Re-educate” with ungodliness

• Daniel 1:3-7; 4:8 – The four young men were given Babylonian names related to Babylonian gods.

• Romans 1:26-27

• Daniel 1:8-16 – Daniel drew the line and made a firm decision to obey God.

• II Timothy 3:10-15

Outlaw service to God

• Daniel 6:10-11 – Daniel did not abandon his service to God.

• Mark 8:34-38 – Serving God is more important than preserving our physical well-being.

• II Peter 2:9 – The Lord knows how to save the righteous and punish the wicked. It may not happen on earth, but God will make it right in the end.

• Revelation 6:9-11

Pressure to violate conscience

• Daniel 3:1-18 – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego are threatened with being thrown into the furnace, but resist.

• Matthew 10:28

• I Timothy 1:3-11, 17-20 – People must be educated the right way.

• Christians are already being marginalized. What’s next? These stories should encourage us.

Attitude check: Philippians 2:3-4

Why doesn’t your church speak in tongues?

• Tongues were real languages.

  • Acts 1:26-2:4 – The apostles spoke in “other tongues”.

  • Acts 2:5-6 – The foreign Jews were not hearing some mystical speech that was unintelligible to them. They were hearing the apostles speak in their own languages.

  • Acts 2:7-11 – The apostles were speaking in languages they were not trained in.

  • Acts 10:44-48 – There is no reason to believe that the Gentiles were speaking unintelligible sounds.

  • I Corinthians 13:1-3 – Some might say, “The tongues of men might be real languages, but the tongues of angels are something else. No man can understand them.”

    • However, many times in the Bible, angels spoke to people and the people understood it perfectly. Matthew 1:20-21; 2:13, 19-20; 28:2-7; etc.

    • In context, Paul is not saying that there are mystical angelic languages. He was giving hypothetical exaggerations to show the importance of love (cf. Galatians 1:8).

• Tongues were to edify through understandable communications

  • I Corinthians 14:1-11 – Prophesying is better than speaking in a tongue because it’s understandable to others. What about I Corinthians 14:2? If I speak Swahili to an English audience, I’m not getting through (even though God understands it).

  • I Corinthians 14:12-19 – Tongues were to edify the church and instruct others.

  • I Corinthians 14:20-26 – If the gift of tongues was used properly, it would be a sign for unbelievers (v22).

• Tongues were able to be controlled

  • I Corinthians 14:27-28 – If the language could not be understood, the tongue speaker was to be silent. It could be controlled!

  • I Corinthians 14:39-40 – Don’t forbid the proper use of tongues but keep silent if you’re going to use the gift improperly. This is more evidence that the gift of speaking in tongues could be controlled.