How should we read Paul?

[Righttruth]

Paul was not a witness in Jesus' earthly ministry. He never heard the elaboration of the parables by Jesus. Therefore, all his epistles should be tested to determine whether they complement the preaching of Jesus or not. Furthermore, any important theological concept cannot be based on Paul's epistles alone. Gospel is the filter one has to apply to his letters.

 

[jugghead]

Paul was not a witness in Jesus' earthly ministry. He never heard the elaboration of the parables by Jesus. Therefore, all his epistles should be tested to determine whether they complement the preaching of Jesus or not. Furthermore, any important theological concept cannot be based on Paul's epistles alone. Gospel is the filter one has to apply to his letters.

I agree, Paul was not a witness to His earthly ministry, but when you say "Gospel is the filter one has to apply to his letters" ..... the word Gospel means "Good News" and Paul definitely filtered everything he wrote through the "Good News" of Christ, he was a man of knowing the Law of God that was converted to knowing the Grace of God, which the Law as our tutor points us to.

 

[AvilaSurfer]

Sitting

 

[Dkh587]

In context, which includes understanding his teachings based on Torah

 

[2KnowHim]

Paul was not a witness in Jesus' earthly ministry. He never heard the elaboration of the parables by Jesus. Therefore, all his epistles should be tested to determine whether they complement the preaching of Jesus or not. Furthermore, any important theological concept cannot be based on Paul's epistles alone. Gospel is the filter one has to apply to his letters.

Neither were you, so I guess we should question your post too.
And why are you so sure that Paul was not a witness (that is in the sense that you are so loosely using it)?
Who do you think the Rich young ruler was?

And Luke was not of the Twelve and neither was Mark and yet they are very much esteemed as Apostles.

The True Gospel comes from Above and is of The Spirit, and if you knew this you would never have posted what you did or have to question someone like Paul.

 

[WretchedGoat]

I like reading Paul left to right, one word at a time. That's just my preference.

 

[Extraneous]

Follow Galatians and the parable of the sower, meditate on them and give them your whole attention.. Keep the commands of Christ and the apostles in your heart as well, and meditate on them. They teach us about love and being spiritual. Ask God for wisdom and guidance. If you do this then nothing else matters because God will do the rest.


Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.


Mathew 13:18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
If you can understand those things, nothing else much matters, God will do the rest.

 

[Extraneous]

I prefer the Gospel of Mathew and John as my primary gospel record and teaching. I like how this particular saying is recorded in Mark however. This is what The Lord said about the parable of the Sower, in Marks interpretation.

Mark 4:13 Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?

 

[Righttruth]

I agree, Paul was not a witness to His earthly ministry, but when you say "Gospel is the filter one has to apply to his letters" ..... the word Gospel means "Good News" and Paul definitely filtered everything he wrote through the "Good News" of Christ, he was a man of knowing the Law of God that was converted to knowing the Grace of God, which the Law as our tutor points us to.

I mean the preaching of Jesus as recorded in the four books of the Gospel. We don't see people filtering Paul's epistles with gospel books as the foundation.

 

[Righttruth]

In context, which includes understanding his teachings based on Torah

Can you give some examples?

 

[Righttruth]

Neither were you, so I guess we should question your post too.
And why are you so sure that Paul was not a witness (that is in the sense that you are so loosely using it)?
Who do you think the Rich young ruler was?

I am not making baseless claims. You think the rich young ruler was Paul?

And Luke was not of the Twelve and neither was Mark and yet they are very much esteemed as Apostles.

Where do you find them being called apostles?

The True Gospel comes from Above and is of The Spirit, and if you knew this you would never have posted what you did or have to question someone like Paul.

Right. That is the reason I am questioning Paul.

 

[Thursday]

I mean the preaching of Jesus as recorded in the four books of the Gospel. We don't see people filtering Paul's epistles with gospel books as the foundation.

I think that you are correct.

If we start with Paul as a base, then read the gospels through that lens, we get a slightly different message than if we read the gospels first and read Paul through the lens of the gospels.

 

[Righttruth]

I like reading Paul left to right, one word at a time. That's just my preference.

That will not answer the OP.

 

[Righttruth]

Follow Galatians and the parable of the sower, meditate on them and give them your whole attention.. Keep the commands of Christ and the apostles in your heart as well, and meditate on them. They teach us about love and being spiritual. Ask God for wisdom and guidance. If you do this then nothing else matters because God will do the rest.


Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.


Mathew 13:18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
If you can understand those things, nothing else much matters, God will do the rest.

You see the conformity here. No problem!

 

[Righttruth]

I think that you are correct.

If we start with Paul as a base, then read the gospels through that lens, we get a slightly different message than if we read the gospels first and read Paul through the lens of the gospels.

Which way is correct? Who offers the salvation?

 

[Thursday]

Which way is correct? Who offers the salvation?

They have the same message, but many protestants take Paul out of context.

If you read Paul selectively, you can get the impression that our actions on earth don't impact our salvation, but that's not actually what Paul taught, or Jesus for that matter.

 

[Dkh587]

Can you give some examples?

I would like to share this study on the epistle to the Romans with you. It's very in depth. I'm on my phone 99% of my posts, so it's easier to share than type up everything lol

http://www.yashanet.com/studies/romstudy/index.htm

Paul's letters are often taken out of context because people most often don't understand the context of what he is even talking about. We don't have the letters that were written to him, that he replied to with his epistles.

For example, if you read Paul's letters out of context, one would think the Torah has no place in our lives, the sabbath is irrelevant, we can eat pork and any other unclean animal because "the law was nailed to the cross" etc.

Christians pick & choose what is sin and what isn't, and they use Paul's letters to do so.


This is not what Paul teaches or writes about at all because when you understand the proper context of his letters and why he's writing them, they line up with Torah

 

[Soyeong]

Paul was not a witness in Jesus' earthly ministry. He never heard the elaboration of the parables by Jesus. Therefore, all his epistles should be tested to determine whether they complement the preaching of Jesus or not. Furthermore, any important theological concept cannot be based on Paul's epistles alone. Gospel is the filter one has to apply to his letters.

There was a long period of time when Paul was being taught and when he was done he checked his understanding with the Apostles, so I don't think that is grounds to call what he knew into question. In Acts 17:11, the Bereans also checked everything Paul said against OT Scriptures, and while they gave him a pass, we should nevertheless also be like the Bereans in checking what he said against OT Scriptures. Paul quoted or alluded to OT Scripture thousands of times to give authority to what he said and to show that he did not deviate from it, so I would agree that we should not accept anything that is only found in his epistles, but like Christ, I don't think Paul taught anything that was brand new.

 

[Righttruth]

They have the same message, but many protestants take Paul out of context.

If you read Paul selectively, you can get the impression that our actions on earth don't impact our salvation, but that's not actually what Paul taught, or Jesus for that matter.

Paul is also responsible in deviating from Jesus' preaching. I also agree that pick and choose people are reading Paul wrongly.

 

[Righttruth]

I would like to share this study on the epistle to the Romans with you. It's very in depth. I'm on my phone 99% of my posts, so it's easier to share than type up everything lol

http://www.yashanet.com/studies/romstudy/index.htm

Paul's letters are often taken out of context because people most often don't understand the context of what he is even talking about. We don't have the letters that were written to him, that he replied to with his epistles.

For example, if you read Paul's letters out of context, one would think the Torah has no place in our lives, the sabbath is irrelevant, we can eat pork and any other unclean animal because "the law was nailed to the cross" etc.

Christians pick & choose what is sin and what isn't, and they use Paul's letters to do so.


This is not what Paul teaches or writes about at all because when you understand the proper context of his letters and why he's writing them, they line up with Torah

Apart from that,Paul craftily came up with suggestions to solve problems of the churches that don't support the way of Jesus!