9. The imprisonment and death of Paul

11. The effects of St. Paul on modern world

Paul of Tarsus is one of Christian History greatest oddities. He was born and a Zealot. (Cremona P.18) I relished In the death and destruction of Christians and their heretic religion. Then in a flash of blinding light Saul was knocked from his horse. From that fall one of the greatest readers of the Christian faith, He converted anyone who would listen and even a few who did not want to listen. He traveled a cross most of the known world and did not stop even at the cost of his life. The greatest enemy the church ended up being its savior and propagator.

Paul was originally not known as Paul. His given name was that of Saul. He was the son of a tent mat maker in Tarsus. Since Tarsus was a major crossroads of trade and caravans, his family became slightly rich. This qualified his family for Roman citizen ship. This gave him certain rights such as exce

The second part of the trilogy speaks of Jesus Christ, the Scandalon. Paul makes it clear that Christ is good news/bad news (Romans 9:32-33; 10:11). "A frank recognition of the scandalon, who is Christ, is needed corrective to our distorted understanding of the gospel he proclaimed and established by his death and through his resurrection" (Card, The Life, 41). In Pauline fashion, Card communicates the confrontive nature of Christ's earthly ministry.

In Damascus there lived a faithful follower of Jesus named Ananias. The lord ordered Ananias to go out to the main street and find a man named Saul from Tarsus. Ananias begged god not to make him go to help Saul because he had heard of the terrible deeds of Saul. God ordered Ananias to go exclaiming, " HE is my chosen one. He shall spread the word to the foreigners. Now GO!" Ananias left and found Saul was god had told him he would be. Saul had been taken by some of the caravan to a local house to rest. Ananias entered the house and placed his hands on Saul proclaiming " Saul the lord Jesus who spoke to you on the road has sent me to cure you. Open your eyes, see, and be filed with the Holy Spirit." Saul opened his eyes ate and was cured.

The second aspect of the theocentricity of Paul's theology has to do with redemptive work of God whereby He reclaims that which belongs to Him. Redemption is a work that "is all founded on the impregnable rock of the eternal will of God."(Dodd, 142) Paul, in Romans 8, writes that it is God who fore knows, predestines, calls and glorifies. "God's action in redemption is free and absolute, springing wholly from within Himself."(Stevens, 98) He is the perfect initiator in the work of salvation; man plays only the role of a passive lump of clay.(Stevens, 114) Priority in salvation is on divine grace and the absolutely gratuitous character of God.(Ridderbos, 349) God is the one who saves His own from His own wrath.(Romans 5:9), for He is both the judge and the advocate, having mercy on whom He wills and hardening whom He wills.( Romans 9:18) All the world is accountable to God (Romans 3:19) and deserving of death (Romans 3:23), but He is also "the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."(Romans 3:26) According to Paul, "it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." (Romans 9:16)

Paul followed the principle of "to the Jew first" (Romans 16: 1), thus his strategy was to target the people of the covenant in the synagogue (Acts 13:5,14; 14). The custom was to invite a visiting rabbi to give a word of exhortation (Acts 13:15), so Paul took advantage of these devout, attentive, and intelligent audiences. Found there were three distinct classes: Jews, proselytes, and God fearing Gentiles. Here Paul felt at home, as all of them had knowledge of the one true God, an acquaintance with the Old Testament, and an expectation of the 'coming' Messiah. Only when he was expelled did he go elsewhere.

Though Paul was called directly by God to be a missionary (Acts 13:2; Acts 9:15, Acts 13:47), he is confirmed by action (Acts 13:2,3) and sent by the church (Acts 13:3-4). Paul was convinced that the missionary must have a strong base at home, for at the end of each journey he always returned to Antioch to report on his journeys (Acts 14:26 28; 18:22, 23). The connection between the prayers of the church and the success of the missions was a vital thing. Paul spent significant time on his return visits and knew the importance of it. When he was planning to go on to Spain with the gospel, a letter was sent to Rome to ask for their support (Romans. 15.15 24).

All of this proves the heart of Paul is focused on Christ and this focus extends beyond the first century into ours. Michael's portrait of Paul's heart points to today; this mentor wants Christ to shine energetically on others so that, they too can "bear the light" of Jesus to others.

The primary task of the Christian, then, is to be r

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