When one views the life of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament it is evident that he had a heart to disciple others. The evidence at hand identified Paul as more than an individual who had doctrinal knowledge, for he was the quintessential model for living out the standards of Christian behavior. In his letter to the Church of Philippi Paul encourage them to “Whatever…
Know how to define “grace” as applied to the work of God in salvation, and understand the relationship of grace to salvation.…
Paul the Apostle gave us not only some of the most profound pieces of early Christian theological reflection, but also some of the finest, poignant writing in history. Throughout Paul of Tarsus’ life, he has been able to contribute to the development of Christianity through his heritage, his personal encounter with Jesus and his life as a missionary for Jesus. AD 33, before Paul converted to Christ, Christianity grew only amongst disaffected Jews. A Jew himself, Paul spoke Greek and inherited Roman citizenship. This enabled him to put Jewish ideas into the language of the Gentiles, and because of his efforts, through his missionary journey’s throughout Asia, Macedonia and the West, Christianity grew from its beginnings in Israel to the rest of the Roman Empire.…
He states, “Men are responsible before God not only for their personal sins, but also for their national sins.” To some extent, that statement holds true in the Christian responsibility as a citizen to vote and change the political atmosphere. Still, many things that nations do are outside of the control of the everyday citizen. Looking at the first century church, Paul was a citizen of Rome, faithfully preaching the gospel, while Christians were being persecuted. Paul’s responsibility was to share the gospel, which he faithfully did, but still persecution was taking place. Later in the book he states that Christians are guilty, by “neglect of duty” to share the gospel, because people still live in sin. Again, on a personal level Christians must fulfill the personal duty of sharing the gospel. The fact that there are still people living in sin and that a nation commits sins does not mean that each believer is living in sin. Every Christian must fulfill his or her God given role in sharing the gospel and spreading the light of…
Part One of Elmer Towns’ Concise Bible Doctrines introduces Christian theology by outlining the key pieces of the doctrine to help the reader understand Christianity and faith. Towns begins by saying that the main purpose of Bible doctrine is to communicate the gospel to the people at a point of need. Every man has the same need because every man is cut off from God. Man is born with a sin nature, and because he is less than holy, he is isolated and alienated from God. Death is imminent for everyone, but God communicates through the Bible that through Jesus Christ, man can be saved. The word “gospel” means “good news.” It is the responsibility of every Christian to reach out in relationships to the unsaved in sharing this news, and to other Christians in fellowship. Christians are called to seek God, and study the Bible to learn to know Him better, and worship Him always. Proper worship of God requires faith; the source of which is the Bible. Doctrinal faith is the beginning and the test of Christianity. If our statement of faith is wrong, than our faith is misplaced. Our faith must be grounded on correct knowledge of God. However, intellectual knowledge of God is not enough. Emotional expression and volition are equally important. The Holy Spirit acts on behalf of Jesus Christ to plant faith in a Christian’s heart. He indwells us, and helps us exercise our faith daily. We can grow in our faith by studying God’s word, seeking the Lord, confessing sin, actively following biblical principles, and constantly communicating with God. Faith is ultimately a reliance and trust of God, and the Bible teaches us to rely on Him for everything.…
The Divine Command Theory leaves no room for reconciliation with the concepts of Christian liberty and God’s undeserving grace. There is no room for failure according to this concept because we will never be able to keep all of God’s commandments. It is difficult, dare I say impossible, to accept this theory if one is a true believer. By rejecting the concept of grace, one rejects the very compassion and reason Jesus died on the cross for us. The apostle Paul states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life" (Hollinger, 2002, p.100) (Ephesians 2:8, New Living Translation). I will never be able to earn the grace of God, yet it is his “internal working of grace” that allows me to be ethical (Hollinger, 2002, p.100). "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free for real" and free from the condemnation of the law.…
A choice made by Paul was when he told the police about when Arthur hit Louis with a black jack and killed him. It affected Paul that he felt more confident. The choice was made because Paul wanted Arthur to go to jail for killing his friend. Paul’s reaction felt weird because he never told the police about a murder before. Paul's effect was that he felt good about himself that he helped solve a murder case.…
Paul uses Romans to teach about what faith truly is, and he does this in a way that is unlike any other book in the New Testament. Each word Paul wrote is of the truth and brings understanding of what God did and still continues to do in and through Jesus Christ. Paul in Romans explains that God created man to have fellowship with Him, but sin had ruined this fellowship between God and man, causing there to be a separation, a rift of some sorts. So he goes onto further explain that God set out to fix this rift between God and man, by sending Christ to make things right. Allowing for Romans to be message that would not only pertain to the Gentiles, but for every generation…
When Scripture states as it does in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”; Romans 3:9-10, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one”, and Psalm 14:3, “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” then what is the reader to ascertain from passages such as Job 1:1, “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” Job is only one example, we also read about the Patriarch Noah in Genesis 7:1 and Zacharias and Elizabeth in Luke 1:5-6 who were also described as being righteous in the eyes of God. The answer to this seemingly contradiction is that although Job, Noah, Zacharias and Elizabeth were blameless and righteous does not mean that they were without sin. We are clearly told in Scripture that Jesus Christ was the only person to ever have walked the earth who was without sin (1 Peter 2:22). Therefore, to better understand how a person can be righteous, upright and blameless, the three characteristics of Job, Noah, Zacharias and Elizabeth, and still be with sin it is beneficial to examine the Hebrew definition of these words.…
I. The three “alones” of Reformation theology is Faith alone, Scripture alone, and Grace alone. Salvation is a gift given to humans by God’s grace, and through faith alone we receive this gift of salvation. If we erroneously believe that our own actions, such as going to church and obeying the Ten Commandments, play a role in achieving salvation, then salvation would no longer be a gift from God but rather a sort of human accomplishment. In order to be given the gift of salvation, we simply need to receive it rather than pursue it by our own actions. By faith alone, we are forgiven; there is no additional “requirement” of us to do something in order to earn this salvation. We know that God is favorable to us by trusting in the promises of God, which are dictated in Scripture. So, through faith we trust in Scripture, and in Scripture we see God’s promise of salvation to all that believe. Finally, through God’s grace alone we are forgiven and saved because God’s promise of salvation is made by grace. God’s grace is…
Paul delivered these instructions to help actively restore Christians that were sinning. Paul emphasized the need for tenderness in the restorative process to fulfill the law of Christ. Individuals are addressed with stern warnings and blessings if they are followers of the Holy Spirit. “Make no mistake: God is not mocked, for a person will reap only what he sows, because the one who sows for his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows for the holy spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.”…
Read Galatians 5:22-23. Compare the qualities that Paul described with those you have written about in question 2.…
Know how to define “grace” as applied to the work of God in salvation, and understand the relationship of grace to salvation.…
What’s more, Paul understands that man has a sinful nature and it is God’s grace that provides salvation…
The apostle Paul, also known as “Saul of Tarsus,”, is the apostle to the Gentiles. (Romans 11:131 and Galatians 2:8).2 (You can use parenthetical citation for Scripture, as you did here, without having to also cite them in the endnotes.) In order for us to understand how God ordained his apostleship to the Gentiles, we must first understand his background.…