New Testament: The Apostle Paul

Discussion 3 New Testament
EXPLAIN THE IMPACT OF PAUL 'S WRITINGS UPON THE WORLD AND DO YOU

BELIEVE PAUL 'S WRITINGS AFFECT PEOPLE 'S MORALS AND STANDARDS TODAY?

The Apostle Paul is, next to Jesus, clearly the most intriguing figure of the 1st century of Christianity, he wrote all of those letters that we have [as] primary sources. The primary impact he has left on Christianity after him is through his letters, but in his own time, he sees himself primarily as a prophet to the non-Jews, to bring to them the message of the crucified Messiah, and he does this in an extraordinary way. They must have reacted as if this is some sort of strange message at certain levels. What does it mean to call someone the Christ or the Messiah? It must not have been intelligible to a
lot of them until some sort of explanation could be given.
From other references within Paul[ 's writings] we can determine some of the rudiments of his preaching message. He talks about how they turn from idols to serve a living God so he brings a message of the one Jewish God as part of his preaching. He 's a Jewish preacher. Secondly, he talks about the wrath to come, a kind of apocalyptic image of a coming judgment on all who worship idols and don 't serve that living God, and thirdly he talks about Jesus the Messiah as the one who will deliver from that wrath. So in Paul 's view it is the messianic identity of Jesus that is an important new element in this very traditional Jewish message and now there 's one other element. He 's taking it to a non-Jewish audience. He 's preaching to gentiles. So when we hear Paul talking about the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified, we 're beginning to get for the first time in the New Testament the language that will become the hallmark of all the later Christian tradition. Indeed it 's where we get much of the vocabulary that makes Christianity distinctive. The term "Christ" is a title. It 's the Greek
translation of the Hebrew word Messioc and they mean exactly the same thing. They both refer to someone who is anointed. ... It 's identifying him as a religious figure in a new way. We find a lot of ethics in Paul. And it 's around this issue of how one lives in anticipation of the end time that 's just around the corner for Paul. This is tied very imp I do believe Paul’s writing he talks about what we should and shouldn’t do. He also talks about being ready, because Jesus will return at any moment. Our own personal experience confirms the validity of these verses. Paul lists the consequences of a purely secular mind, which resulted from leaving the True Source of right standards out of our lives. He shows that when we follow the path described, we not only lose godliness but also true humanity. I believe that Paul was telling anyone that would listen that if they didn’t straighten up their life and live a righteous life they would be able to see the Savior. "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God" (I Peter 4:17). We are being measured, judged, against a standard. And the standard we are to live by is from the bible. Some don’t believe in the bible but they believe in the bible. Somewhere deep in our conscience we know what we should and shouldn’t do. We know we not supposed to steal or kill or commit adultery, but how do we know this. Paul brought out the law that he preached on to inform people about the standard of God’s morality. When we understand the terms God inspired to describe sin, we can easily see why sin is so universal. Because the robber, murderer, drunkard, rapist, and child-abuser are so obviously evil, we readily agree that they are sinners. In our hearts we consider ourselves to be respectable citizens since we do none of these things. These terms, though, bring us face to face with the reality of sin—that it is not always obvious. Sin is not confined to external conduct. Sometimes it is buried within one 's heart and very cleverly concealed from all but the most discerning

Works Cited Meeks, Wayne A. "Pauls Missions and Letterc." PBS.com. Frontline, 4 Apr. 1996. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .
Ritenbaugh, Richard T. "Bible Tools." Bible Tools. Church of God, 1992-2012. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .