Who was Paul?

[Bastoune]

Is there a "Saturday Sabbath" thread here somewhere?

The Lord's Day is found in the Book of Acts and Revelation. Isaiah predicts a day when the sabbath will change ("the 8th Day" as early Christians called it, including Barnabas in his epistle written AD 70), and Hebrews 4 tells us that Sabbath was merely a foreshadowing of the true rest to come in Christ.

Cephas, do you have a question about the Lord's Day you'd like to pose?

 

[nChrist]

Hey 357, nice tag!

Thanks. I've used that handle for many years in various hobbies. I'm a retired police officer, and an S&W 357 Magnum was my duty weapon for 17 of my 25 years in law enforcement.

 

[LewisWildermuth]

Paul is neither and both...

After all, Paul is human, just like the rest of us and has all the same weaknesses and failings just like the rest of us.

Paul is neither angel or demon but he is you and I.

It is nice to play Sunday morning quarterback as we sit in our comfortable chairs and look down 2000 years of history, but Paul had to live and die by his decisions, something we rarely face, he did not have a Bible or endless commentaries to look over at his leisure when he wrote or did anything. I find it self serving to sit back now and say that he was evil because we do not like what he said or to promote him to an almost deity like status because we might agree with him. It only degrades what the man did with his life and the fact that he was a man, just like you or I.

 

[nChrist]

Paul is neither and both...

After all, Paul is human, just like the rest of us and has all the same weaknesses and failings just like the rest of us.

Paul is neither angel or demon but he is you and I.

It is nice to play Sunday morning quarterback as we sit in our comfortable chairs and look down 2000 years of history, but Paul had to live and die by his decisions, something we rarely face, he did not have a Bible or endless commentaries to look over at his leisure when he wrote or did anything. I find it self serving to sit back now and say that he was evil because we do not like what he said or to promote him to an almost deity like status because we might agree with him. It only degrades what the man did with his life and the fact that he was a man, just like you or I.

Paul had a tough job at the time, preaching the Gospel of God's Grace, a mystery not known to men of other ages. He endured the entire religious establishment of the time to preach the Gospel. Many people of the time believed that he was evil because he taught that Jesus was the Son of God, was crucified, and arose from the dead. Grace was a foreign subject to many, and it's ironic that many still don't believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God. I think that The Apostle Paul was judged much more harshly by his peers than he is today. Most Christians believe that Paul was the brave messenger of GOOD NEWS, THE ONE GOSPEL, THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD.

 

[Konnie]

A brother according to Peter in 2 Peter 3.

 

[GJG]

Please look up all the following scripture, as it will help you to understand more fully when you read the context in which it is given.

We must all remember that the mystery (God manifest in the flesh) was revealed to Paul and the saints of the early church Eph 3:3-9 Col 1:26.
In his earlier years Saul(now Paul) was taught my the great teacher Gamellio regarding the one true living God. So that Saul believed with all his heart that he was serving God while persecuting the believers of Christ. However on his way to Damascus Saul had the opportunity to ask his one true God this question:Who are you? Acts 9:5...I AM JESUS...simple. {if you were to be asked the same question I'm sure you would reply with your own name!}
Now that God almighty has revealed his only true personal name being Jesus, let us see how Jesus himself answered when he was also asked the same question.
Never before did God have a personal name till the birth of Jesus as this was the one time that God was manifest in created substance;man, a PERSON! This now raises the question of the Man-God Jesus.

To understand Jesus being the name of God we must first understand WHAT God is to then believe WHO God is.

Look these up: Col1:15 1Tim1:17 Heb11:27 Deut33:27 Jer23:24 John4:24 so we now have a simple description of WHAT God is: The Invisible, Eternal, Omnipresent Spirit that inhabits all of creation! There is obviously room for only ONE such being!
The Holy Ghost or Spirit of God is again the very same substance that is God, also this Spirit of God is the same Spirit of Christ 1Pet1:11 1John3:24,4:12-13 Phil1:19. This same Jesus Christ is refered to as the image of the invisible God Col1:14-15. Again this Jesus who was recieved up into glory is refered to as God 1Tim3:16.
So we can easily see that the Holy Ghost is not a separate person (spirit is different substance to a person anyway) but rather, the indwelling substance that is the Spirit of God is the very same substance that inhabits all creation!
Lets get back to the MAN-GOD Jesus. Fully man and fully human is controversial to those that do not fully understand. Yet if God's word says it, than we must look at accepting it as absolute truth. The combination MAN-GOD seems to denote a certain dual nature about Jesus. As a man he: ate, slept, cried, bled, just like you and I do, yet this mans flesh was pure and without sin. So that within a created living creature, God could now become that unblemished sacrificial lamb to take away that sin that once seperated us from Him. When Jesus performed miracles, it was the God within him doing the things which no mere mortal could do. DIVINITY clothed in HUMANITY! To believe this we must first find sripture that emphatically agrees with this: Col1:19,2:9. So now we understand that when the man Jesus prayed, it was his HUMANITY having a need that only his DIVINITY could address. The substance within Jesus is the very same God of the old testament, unchanging.
We now see the one, unchanging, almighty God for what He is, but more importantly who He is, for this reason the scripture tells us: Acts 4:12
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
KJV

MAN/GOD


He is worshiped (Matt. 2:2,11; 14:33; 28:9)
He is prayed to (Acts 7:59; 1 Cor. 1:1-2)
He was called God (John 20:28; Heb. 1:8)
He was called Son of God (Mark 1:1)
He is sinless (1 Pet. 2:22; Heb. 4:15)
He knew all things (John 21:17)
He gives eternal life (John 20:28)
The fullness of deity dwells in Him (Col. 2:9)
He worshiped the Father (John 17)
He prayed to the Father (John 17:1)
He was called man (Mark 15:39; John 19:5).
He was called Son of Man (John 9:35-37)
He was tempted (Matt. 4:1)
He grew in wisdom (Luke 2:52)
He died (Rom. 5:8)
He has a body of flesh and bones (Luke 24:39)


John 10:30
I and my Father are one.
KJV

John 14:9
Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father'?
NIV

So God has taken on the name of Jesus, not the flesh!


Happy hunting!

 

[Diane_Windsor]

A brother according to Peter in 2Peter 3