BIBLICAL PASTORAL FORMATION

VERBUM DEI FAMILY-MANILA

`

Pauline Letters

Pau/loj( dou/loj qeou/( avpo,stoloj(Titus 1,1)

Structure

• Life of St Paul

• Complexity of character

• Pauline corpus

• Conversion

Life of St Paul• Born 1st decade AD (exact date unknown)

• Named Saul

• In Acts 13,9 – change of name.“But Saul, also known as Paul”

• Paul means small or little

• Worked as tent maker from goat skinfrom leather

Life until Conversion

• Narrate events…

Major events of life

• Conversion on road to Damascus • 1st Missionary journey• 2nd Missionary journey• 3rd missionary journey• Imprisonment• Transfer to Rome• Martyrdom (64 AD)

Complexity of Paul

• He belonged to three worlds and three cultures- Hebrew- Greek- Roman

Jewish background

• “For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin” (Rom 11,1)

• “Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee” (Phil 3,6)

• “The major part of his theology and his anthropology clearly reveals his Hebrew background” J. Fitzmeyer

Hellenistic component

• In Acts of the Apostles, Luke states that Paul was from Tarsus (Acts 22.3), a Roman town where common greek (Koine) was spoken

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia” (Acts 22,3) • Paul wrote his letters in Greek

• He cites commonly the Greek OT translation

• Many commentators feel that Greek was his mother tongue

Thought of St Paul• Born in big Hellenistic city• Does not use metaphors of nature or the life in the

fields like Jesus• Instead from commerce (to give, gain, buy), sports

(stadium, boxer, race, prize, crown), military (war, peace, weapons), urban life (theatre, tribunals, temples)

• Using greek, makes up new words to express participation in life of Christ e.g. to suffer with Christ

“…and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him (umpa,scomen) so that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:17)

A Roman citizen• Acts 16:37-38 But Paul said to

them, "They have beaten us publicly, even though we are Roman citizens and have not been tried, and have thrown us into prison.

• Acts 22:25-28 But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion on duty, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and has not been tried?" 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the cohort commander and reported it, saying, "What are you going to do? This man is a Roman citizen." 27 Then the commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he answered. 28 The commander replied, "I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money." Paul said, "But I was born one."

Complexity of each personImportance of history

To be all things to all people

See 1 Cor 9, 22

Importance of Paul’s writing in NT

• 21 letters in NT, 14 attributed to Paul• One of these, letter to the Hebrews, does not

itself claim to be the work of Paul, but attached at end of Pauline corpus

• First words written of New Testament?

Pau/loj

What are the Pauline letters?

• What does it mean to be written by Paul?Written firsthand by him

Dictated to a secretary

Left to a secretary to write

Written later by disciples

Written by Paul

• “Genuine”RomansGalatiansPhilippians1/2 Corinthians1 ThessaloniansPhilemon

Pauline Corpus

• 2 Thessalonians• Colossians• Ephesians• Pastoral Epistles (1/2 Timothy, Titus)

• Hebrews – NO!

What is other major source of information we have about the life of St Paul in addition to the Pauline

corpus?

The acts of the Apostles!

Saul in Acts of Apostles

• “They threw Stephen out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.” (Acts 7:58)

• Acts 8,3• Acts 9,1

His conversion

• Acts 9, 1-19• Acts 22, 3-16• Acts 26, 2-18• 1st letter to Corinthians• 2nd letter to Corinthians• Galatians• Philippians• See images from art and then film…