Was Paul inspired by God?

[praying]

I think Paul was inspired by God but he was man and it seems that so many christians refer to Paul's teachings over Jesus'. I had someone tell me that to quote Paul was to quote Jesus. Inspired yes on the level of my Lord and Savior, absolutely not.

 

[Serving4Christ]

2 Timothy 3:16

 

[TugOwar]

I am shocked and saddened by some of the replies here. And also convicted to check myself on how I respond to others.

Of course Neph, Paul was inspired by God. Jesus himself spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus:

Acts 9:3-6
9:3
And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
9:4
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
9:5
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
9:6
And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

And I mean He literally spoke audibly to Paul:
Acts 9:7
And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

I wish I were half as inspired as Paul was.
Keep the faith Neph my Brother.
The Bible in it's entirety is either God-Breathed or it isn't, we can't pick and choose the parts we like.

Heavenly Father, Great and Powerful Creator of all that is,
We humble ourselves before you and acknowledge you as the one and only true and living God.
Hear our prayers oh Lord,
Help us God, to overcome the differences that would seperate us,
Remove the blinders that we wear and show us the truth contained in your Holy, Inspired Word.
Father help us to see each other as Brothers and Sisters in The Body of Christ, not denominations.
Show us your will for our lives Lord and grant us that measure of The Holy Spirit that will help us to fulfill your will.
Bring us together that we might be a powerful, united force in Christ that you can use.
Father we bow before You, giving You the praise, and asking according to your will and by the authority of Jesus Christ,
For Thine is The Kindow The Power and The Glory forever,
Amen!

 

[Bulldog]

For those too lazy to loook it up,

2 Timothy 3:16

All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

 

[merryheart]

I believe that Paul was absolutely inspired by God when he wrote what is in the Bible today. However, I do not believe that his teachings are accurately interpreted in some places, due to lack of inspiration on the part of the interpreters. I believe that if you study Pauls writings thoroughly, In his original language and in the original context, that you will find some passages have been taught to most of us incorrectly. In some instances, very incorrectly. I also believe that certain uninspired individuals have taken it upon themselves to use Pauls writings - incorrectly translated yet - as a hammer, and by doing so, have caused people to withdraw from all of the wonderful things that Paul had to say. These false teachings go against what we know of God, if we have a relationship with Him and can hear His voice, and this causes confusion to the believer. I am a studier. For me, the response is to study and pray until I find that place where God tells me "this is truth" I believe that my type of reaction is typical of the person who is more logical/analytical rather than emotional or feelings oriented. A more emotional person will have a different reaction to the untruth when it is contrary to what they know of God.

 

[jgarden]

Huh? The Council of Jerusalem agreed with St Paul against the Judaizers.




Um, immediately after the Resurrection, Paul was Saul. He was killing Christians.



Um, the Council of Jerusalem agreed with Paul in not requiring circumcision.

AD 29-30 - Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection

AD 32-34 - Paul’s Conversion

AD 49-50 - Jerusalem Council

The interpretation of the results of the Jerusalem Council depends on which version you read. Luke’s version in Acts 15:1-35, stands in marked contrast to Paul’s account in Galatians 2:1-10. In what should have been one of his greatest successes, Paul describes in a terse 10 verses and never mentions again.

Paul does go on to describe the split between Jewish/Gentile Christians and his public confrontation with Peter (schism at Antioch) immediately after the Jerusalem Council. It is interesting that while the events of the Jerusalem Council are described in detail, this behind-the-scenes split was not mentioned by Luke
(a member of the Jerusalem Church).

‘When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived , he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.” (Galatians 2:11-13)

The subsequent actions of Peter and James, two of the major participants in the Council of Jerusalem, undermine whatever understanding had occurred. Members of the “circumcision group” are synonymous with Judaizers.

Judaizers -Jewish Christians who accepted the Mosaic Law and its traditions and sought to impose circumcision upon the Gentiles (McDonald/Porter).

“The remainder of the Galatian Epistle shows how gravely Paul viewed the point at issue (split with Peter,and ultimately James). The immediate question is that of the necessity of circumcision, but it was clearly for Paul but one of the most obvious aspects of the deeper underlying problem. The adversaries remain unnamed, but there can be no doubt about their identity, namely they are representatives of the Jerusalem Church, for the remark in 4. 17 that “They zealously seek you in no good way; nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them” clearly alludes to the policy which produced the schism at Antioch. Consequently the vehemence of Paul‘s condemnation of his antagonists‘ attempt to undermine the loyalty of the Galatians must be seen as ultimately reaching back to the leaders at Jerusalem........”
(Brandon S. G., “The Fall of the Jerusalem and the Christian Church” pp.138-139)

 

[Celestron]

Wow, i keep running across this...just posted this on gcm.ibelieve.com a couple of days ago.

Once had a girlfriend whose mom told her, 'read only the gospels'.

i must say, doesn't II tim say, 'all scripture is god-breathed'.

still... regarding homosexuality, christ doesn't mention the word...
he does mention sexual immorality makes a man unclean...matthew 15:19...
so we have to ask, is homosexuality sexual immorality?

 

[Blessed-one]

consider how God used Paul as the very first missionary to reach the gentiles, consider how much the Kingdom of God had spread due to Paul's effort (spurred by God), without a doubt, we cannot dismiss his writings and say they are not inspired. Why would God use a person so significantly as to build the foundation of the church if that person did not follow God's way?

 

[ischus]

It is interesting that nobody has spoken of Paul's inspiration outside of the literature that we have of his in our english bibles today. I wonder if Peter or Clement would have anything to say about Paul's inspiration????? Perhaps they would know a little more than the rest of us.

 

[SolomonVII]

Before I bothered to read what Paul wrote, I only had what others had to say about him and my imoression of him was rather negative. The more I read of him the more I find his works thought provking and inspiring. He wrote beautifully about faith and love. His arguments are strikingly modern in the ease with which the modern reader is able to follow his logic.
Like all of the apostles, Paul had his foibles and his imperfections. Of all the characters of the NT, it is safe to say that only Jesus did not. But Paul has always come across to me as honest and sincere. Maybe he was a little ascerbic when he knew he was right in regards to such things as circumsicion and sharing meals with Gentiles, but I suppose that sometimes the Holy Spirit has that effect with some people. And after all, his statements on these matters directly complemented the ministry of Jesus in his openess to the non-Jewish population (such as the Samaritan woman), and his willingness to go against the Jewish norms of the day if it was for the glorification of His Father.

It is a safe assumption to make that Paul's epistles were written under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit.

Not only is it correct to state that Christianity wouldn't have been the same without Paul, but in today's climate it should also be added that Christianity would not be as rich a system of belief as it is were it not for Paul.

 

[nephilimiyr]

My thoughts and even my beliefs about this whole matter is quite simple. If someone wants to claim that Pauls writings were not inspired by God they also have to believe that the book of Genesis was not inspired as well as all of the books of the Bible. If you come to that conclusion you have to say that nothing in the Bible is trustworthy. That it isn't a relieable source of information. If that is the case our belief about Jesus and who he said he was is now put into question and the answer to that will not be answered. How can it be? I mean there's a reason why jesus often quoted the OT because it was the OT books that prophesied his comeing and what his purpose was to be.

If you question Paul you also must question Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Why is it the same people who say Paul was not inspired don't say the same about the authors of the Gospels? Why should we believe Matthew wrote under the inspiration of God? How do we know if he just wrote what he felt Jesus said or did? Some people say that Paul just wrote his opinion well I ask how do we know whether it was just John's opinion that jesus was the way, the truth, and the life. They may say because he quoted jesus but what better way to get your point across then to make it look like jesus said it. See what I'm trying to say here? Once you go down that road it's easy to conclude that the authors of the Bible were just pushing their beliefs off on us.

Don't take what I wrote as a sign that I am questioning this because I'm not! I believe the gospels as well as Pauls writings were inspired by the Holy Spirit, not some of them or just in certain places but all of it. Just because 4 books talk about jesus's ministry and life doesn't make them true and it doesn't mean the authors were under the power of God while writing them. No, there has to be a different answer, a different reason for this. And there is! Because all the books of the Bible, both OT and NT, harmonize each other and prove each other we know that all the books are inspired by God.

 

[nephilimiyr]

I believe that Paul was absolutely inspired by God when he wrote what is in the Bible today. However, I do not believe that his teachings are accurately interpreted in some places, due to lack of inspiration on the part of the interpreters. I believe that if you study Pauls writings thoroughly, In his original language and in the original context, that you will find some passages have been taught to most of us incorrectly. In some instances, very incorrectly. I also believe that certain uninspired individuals have taken it upon themselves to use Pauls writings - incorrectly translated yet - as a hammer, and by doing so, have caused people to withdraw from all of the wonderful things that Paul had to say. These false teachings go against what we know of God, if we have a relationship with Him and can hear His voice, and this causes confusion to the believer. I am a studier. For me, the response is to study and pray until I find that place where God tells me "this is truth" I believe that my type of reaction is typical of the person who is more logical/analytical rather than emotional or feelings oriented. A more emotional person will have a different reaction to the untruth when it is contrary to what they know of God.

Bless your heart merryheart! I too believe that although Paul's writings are inspired by God I also don't believe that two people will have the same interpretation of one particular inspired thought given. However I don't believe god inspired his thoughts to be taken in different ways but is intended to have only one meaning. Also because there is slight mistranslations in what was originaly written has brought about confussion and or the wrong beliefs about a certain given thought or doctrine. This is in evidence in both the greek as well as the hebrew.

For instance I believe in the gap theroy of genesis 1. I believe this because of how I believe the Hebrew was written and how it was meant to be interpreted. I believe that the young earth creation belief is brought about because of slight mistranslations and not takeing into account the rules of ancient Hebrew grammer.

Your point is well taken and as a side note I hope you start another discussion on what we were talking about the other day!

 

[Warrior Poet]

If you question Paul you also must question Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Why is it the same people who say Paul was not inspired don't say the same about the authors of the Gospels?

I havent seen anyone dispute the fact that he was indeed inspired. As were all that wrote the Bible.

Why should we believe Matthew wrote under the inspiration of God? How do we know if he just wrote what he felt Jesus said or did?

Two very very good questions.
The Gospels and Paul's writing are very different though. (style, form, audience...) all holds its meaning and is Divine Inspiration, this IMO is simply indesputible. Pual touched on quite a few points and "elaborated" those points to specifics for the times, those ideas fell in line with Jesus's teachings, he was being lead by HIS faith. In his specific's he metions certain lifesyles that are tearing the church down. The parallel to todays "world" is almost scary, which IMO makes Pual hold that much more weight for us. But here is the thing Paul was a "fighter" he was out there to do his thing and he did it well, but that was were his faith was leading him. We all pick our battles and Paul sets us up to do so. Some people have to "hold the fort" in some cases thats where there faith is leading them. It doesnt make them wrong, and it doesnt make them bad. As the body you would be the fist and others would be the eyes, still working together to do what we are led to do here. Build up the church (people) for God and for that person to live a blessed eternal life.

You can find the love in everything Paul said. Its in there he loved those people enough to get them right with God, to keep the church united, still each functioing in their own way. The problem that keeps comming up (one in particular given the time) calls us to rasie up againist the "laws of the land" not a church law. Its like if the church you go to backs a thought or an idea or oks something you believe to be unbiblical, you can leave. Or you can say the church should be agaisnt this and we shouldnt allow it. The church has the authority if they see fit to who/what not to "allow" inside their walls. Its the churchs stance we should be defending but if a church gets sued for banning a certain type of people a line has been crossed.

There are things today that the church and personaly we should be againist. Againist a certain type of lifestyle, and not accept that lifestyle in the church. If your faith leads you to fight the law then by all means. Different views doesnt mean that Paul and what he taught wasnt inspired. Its about keeping his people united his church the last thing we need is to turn on each other for being ourselves we are still led by the same God, walking in our own faith.

Warrior Poet