Paul's Conversion and His Worldview

Last class we zeroed in on Paul's encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and pondered what that event meant for Paul and his worldview. Thinking that he was doing God's will by persecuting his Jewish co-nationals for following Christ, Paul finds out from Jesus that he is actually working against God. How this plays out for Paul will take several years of pondering, thinking, building relationships with other believers and finding out exactly what it is that God now wants him to do in light of this revelation.

In class we determined the following changes to Paul's worldview in light of this revelation that he receives from Jesus:

• Jesus communicates to Paul that people are connected to God and when you hurt people you are essentially hurting God in the process.


• All people matter to God. Paul will work this through over time as he allows Jesus' revelation to penetrate into all that he knew about God up to this point.


• We will find in Paul's letters a focus on Jesus' Resurrection as a pivotal event in history that marks the coming of the future - God's Kingdom - evidenced in Jesus' rising from the dead. This will cause Paul to expand his Jewish eschatology to make sense of the resurrection now happening in the present in the person of Jesus. What this means in regard to what God will restore will be seen in more detail as we start into Paul's letters. At this point we can affirm that Paul's Jewish view of the End is now expanding to Paul's view of the End in light of Jesus' appearance [His life, death, resurrection and ascension]

This coming week we will finish up the section on Paul's theology [thoughts on God] in preparation for getting into the letters. The first letter we are going to tackle is Ephesians. In preparation for this please do the readings on Ephesians outlined in the course syllabus. I start with Ephesians because it is a letter that offers to us Paul's big picture of his view concerning what God's plan is and how it plays itself out in history.

If you were Paul and you had a chance to write a letter that would address every believer in Asia Minor and throughout all the churches that he had relationship with, what would you write? Maybe a good place to start is to think about what you would write if you had an opportunity to address everyone that you knew or had relationship with? What would be your focus? What would you feel important to share with them?

Those who want to dig deeper:

As I promised to you last week, I have linked notes to the section on "Paul and His Recent Interpreters" as a resource for those of you who want to know a bit more about where scholarship has taken Pauline studies in the last 50 years. As I mentioned in class, there has been a very decisive shift from viewing Paul as primarily a Greek thinking individual to now more concentration on realizing that Paul was primarily Jewish in his thinking living in a Hellenized Roman culture.

Context is the Key to Meaning

Context is everything. When I say "9/11" there is no doubt concerning the meaning of this phrase. If the term was used pre September 11, 2001, it could of meant a myriad of things to different people. It could be some one's birth date or a couple's anniversary, or a day that holds a special place in some one's life. But post September 11, 2001, there is absolutely no doubt as to what it means in our present context. Regardless of what this date meant before, there is absolutely no doubt about what it means now.


This is why context - specifically historical context - is so important. It is the main element that offers us a definite environment to place the biblical writings. Paul's writings are no exception. As we took a big picture view of the historical context that Saul of Tarsus/Paul the Apostle lived in, it becomes very clear what period of history we are dealing with and therefore what phrases such as "Son of God" and "Resurrection" mean within the greater culture.


I do believe that this is how God has chosen to preserve the meaning of the biblical literature for us, by embedding it in a time period written to specific people within a specific context. Getting to the historical context then is crucial to understanding what we are reading. I want to encourage you to check out the link on the right hand side on the "1st Century Roman Empire." You'll find some interesting information there on the historical period of Paul's writing. You may also be interested in the Jewish context of Paul's upbringing and training. For more information on this you can check out the following: Paul: The Man and Teacher in Light of Jewish Sources When I was in Israel I found that this book by Risto Santala was held in high esteem by the Messianic Jews. Santala does a great job of orientating the reader to the Jewish historical context of Paul the Apostle and the on going Jewishness of the man as he follows Jesus and establishes communities that centre around Jesus across the Roman Empire.

We'll talk more next class on how Paul's primary worldview is Jewish and is the controlling worldview through which he understands the world around him. Unlike certain scholars who argue that Paul is primarily Greek since he was born in Greek territory in the Roman Empire, I argue that Paul was predominantly Jewish since he was born into a Jewish family and was educated in the rabbinical system in Judea. This training will provide Paul with the background through which he will decipher his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. We'll talk more about this significant event this Thursday as well.

Welcome to Pauline Literature

For those of you who are taking Pauline Literature at Portico Community Church in Mississauga, this blog has been set up to help with communicating between classes. The class starts on Thursday February 12, 2009 and will run from 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm until the end of April.

The course syllabus can be accessed by clicking on the following link "Pauline Literature Syllabus." Please note that the course requirements apply only to those who are taking the course for credit. For those of you doing the course as a Portico audit, you have an option to consider whether you'd like to change to a credit later on or simply follow along with the classes and readings.

The course textbook can be obtained through Books for Christ. Books for Christ is the official online textbook provider for Master's College and Seminary. They have competitive rates and will ship orders above $50.00 free to anywhere in Canada.

You'll see that I have set up a list of useful websites at the right hand column that will assist you in getting more aquianted with Paul. I encourage you to check out these sites and read some of the introductory information as you prepare for class. These links will also come in handy later as we get into Paul's historical background and the letters that he wrote.

I look forward to our time together in this course and I pray that you will grow in your understanding as a follower of Christ and gain a larger picture of the historical community that we are a part of and the incredible connection we have with God through Jesus Christ in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

My hope is that by reviewing Paul and his letters we will truly be changed! As an instructor I always come away from teaching a course with a greater appreciation for Paul and challenged to dig even more into the signficance of his writings for us today as we go about seeking to do God's will and live in light of His plan for our life and community. I'm expecting the same will happen for you!