My questions about the bible, please help

[hime]

Peace to everyone here....

I made this thread and hope that all of my questions will get answered. I am planning to keep this thread as my place to put any questions come to my mind while I am reading the bible "if mods dont mind that". I know that there may be some similar questions posted somewhere here, but because this place is huge, it will took a long time to find any


Important before replying:
1. I am not looking for a debate here, this is merely asking questions thread
2. When I ask questions, I may be wrong in asking the question itself "I am still learning", so don't get offended please and correct me instead so I will get benefit instead of hurting other without my knowing.
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Here are the first questions:

I knew that the new testament was written by the students of Jesus Peace Be Upon Him. I read also that Paul was one of those who wrote some of the Bible book, but was he one of Jesus students?


What was his contributions on the Bible?


Why many Christians consider his as the true founder of the Christianity? if they really do.

 

[salida]

1)Jesus students? More like his Apostles. Yes, Paul was one of the most famous ones.

2) He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galations, Ephesians, Philippian, and Colossians, II Timothy 3:16.

3) How many christians? All of them. Christ being the Son of God decides who a christian is and He (God) wrote the Bible (Word of God). He used imperfect men to do so. Christian means christ like.

Are you doing a research paper?

 

[Emmy]

Dear hime. The Bible is God`s Word to Man. The 12 Disciples, which Jesus chose, were from different trades, i.e. fishermen, taxcollector, etc. St. Paul was called Saul of Tarsus, and was a strict persecutor of all Christians, until Jesus challenged him on the Road to Damascus. Jesus had already been crucified and had left Earth. " Saul, why are you persecuting me?" From then on Saul changed completely, he became a devoted Apostle of Jesus, and his name was changed from Saul, to Paul, one of our Lord`s great Apostles. Sincere greetings from Emmy, sister in Christ.

 

[DeaconDean]

Here are the first questions:

I knew that the new testament was written by the students of Jesus Peace Be Upon Him. I read also that Paul was one of those who wrote some of the Bible book, but was he one of Jesus students?

No.

Paul was a Jew, but at the time of Jesus, Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee.

What was his contributions on the Bible?

Paul wrote 66% of the New Testament epistles.

Why many Christians consider his as the true founder of the Christianity? if they really do.

Paul was not the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ was. Christianity is built around and upon Jesus Christ. He is the "chief cornerstone". But Paul, as well as Peter and James, were instrumental in the establishing what were the formal beliefs of the early church. The very first "Apostolic Council" is recorded in Acts 15 where matters that were of a conflict between Jewish Christians and Gentiles were decided upon.

A disciple is a student, a learner. The word "apostle" takes on three meanings in biblical literature.

An apostle describes the followers of Jesus Christ. They were disciples first, upon Jesus ascention into heaven, they became not students, but apostles. A description of their new "status". Also, apostle is what one becomes when the learner days are over. Also, any lexicon will show that the word also says that apostles are messengers sent on behalf of someone.

God Bless

Till all are one.

 

[Audiomatic]

Hi Hime!

The response from DeaconDean was the most accurate and complete so far. Paul never met Jesus during Jesus' time on earth. It was his job to persecute Christians until he was spoken to by Jesus on his way to Damascus and became a Christian himself (to make a long story short). Jesus' disciples were Jews and Paul was also a Jew. One reason that Paul became so important to Christianity is that the other apostles stayed closer to home and preached mostly to Jews, whereas Paul took Jesus' story on the road and preached and planted Christian churches among gentiles (non-Jews such as Greeks). Another reason Paul was so important was that he wrote letters (epistles) to the churches that he planted, and these letters were preserved.

It may be helpful for you to know that "Paul" is just the Greek version of the name "Saul," which is the Jewish version. The same as Saint Paul would be San Pablo in Spanish, and Saint John would be San Juan in Spanish. If you keep in mind that Paul's letters to the churches were written primarily for Greeks rather than Jews, you'll notice that he sometimes uses Greek versions of names, such as Timotheus (Timothy), Lucas (Luke) and Marcus (Mark); this should help make his letters a bit less confusing. Also, the letters titled "Corinthians" were addressed to the church he planted in the city of Corinth, "Galatians" was written to the church he planted in Galatia, "Ephesians" to the church in Ephesus, etc.

Two books of the New Testament were written by Luke for a wealthy Greek named Theophilus who wanted a better understanding of the Jesus phenomenon. These are Luke and Acts (or Acts of the Apostles). They are important partly because they were written to a non-Jew and provide a lot of context, whereas context is somewhat lacking in other books. If you read Luke, you'll better understand the Jesus story, and if you read Acts you'll have a better understanding of what the apostles were doing after Jesus' resurrection, especially Apostle Paul because Luke accompanied Paul on some of his travels. If you have a Bible and are interested in reading it, Luke and Acts are a great place to start.

Thank you for your thoughtful questions!

 

[ebia]

I knew that the new testament was written by the students of Jesus Peace Be Upon Him. I read also that Paul was one of those who wrote some of the Bible book, but was he one of Jesus students?

Not as such, no. You can read about Paul's conversion to Christianity after Jesus' death and resurrection in the early chapters of Acts. In fact not much of the New Testament was directly written by Jesus' immediate disciples.
We don't really know who wrote Matthew
Mark was probably writing down a version of Peter's story.
Luke was a later convert and also wrote Acts.
Paul wrote Romans, Corinthians, Galations, Ephesians, Philippians Thessalonians and Philemon. He is supposed to have written Timothy and Titus but some dispute that.
We have no idea who wrote Hebrews.
James is written by Jesus' brother, but he doesn't appear to have followed Jesus until after Jesus' death and resurrection.
Jude likewise
Peter may have written the books that bear his name, but it's not particularly likely.
The only biblical author likely to have been a direct follower is John, who does appear to be the author of the Gospel that bears his name and probably also at least some of the three letters that do. Whether he is the same John who wrote Revelation is a matter of dispute.

What was his contributions on the Bible?


Why many Christians consider his as the true founder of the Christianity? if they really do.

It's not usually Chrisitans that say that. Paul was Christianity's first great theologian and missionary - both explaining Jesus life, death and resurrection and telling the world about it.